Silver Lift, the most successful horse in British Speed Derby history, has bowed out aged 21 to enjoy a happy retirement with an old and dear friend.
The Irish-bred gelding, with whom Harriet Biddick won three Hickstead speed Derby titles and came second four times, had been jumping until last month with Harriet’s stable jockey Lily Wilson – and of course still winning.
“I wanted to retire him with the sun on his back; it seemed the right time,” Harriet told H&H. “He’s out with A Touch Imperious and a couple of four-year-olds, a nice group of them anyway, so it made sense. It’s been good to see him out with them and having a nice time in the good weather.”
Harriet said the family bought Silver Lift from Ireland as a four-year-old, as her younger sister Lucy’s first horse.
“He’d been hunting with an 11-year-old boy, at four years old, they loved him,” she said. “He was really dark, iron grey with a white mane and tail, so he looked stunning.”
Harriet started riding Silver Lift, then Lucy hunted him a bit and Harriet took him on as a six-year-old as Lucy was keener on hunting.
“The first year he did the speed Derby, he was only seven,” Harriet said. “He came 11th; he went clear but I took it slowly, and he’d not missed a year since.”
Harriet said jumping a seven-year-old in the speed derby is not something she would do now – but this was clearly his class, and Silver Lift enjoyed it from the start.
“He’d been started so well, he was so safe and unspooky, an 11-year-old boy rode him,” she said. “And with the hunting, he was so well rounded and grown up, we didn’t do young horse classes, we just did the fun stuff.
“He always wanted to be competitive and thrived on going fast, and he was ready. It was the right thing for him to do, and he loved it.”
At that time, Harriet had Highland Cruiser, with whom she also was very successful in the speed Derby; she came third on him when she and Silver Lift won for the first time in 2016.
They won again in 2019, securing back-to-back titles in 2022, after the two previous years’ classes were lost to Covid. For a few years, Silver Lift was ridden most of the time by young rider Joss Phillipps, coming back to Harriet for Hickstead.
But, Harriet, added, “I’ve probably made every mistake in that class!” such as the year she went the wrong way in the speed derby qualifier.
“I never try to win that qualifier as he’s already a racy horse and doesn’t need to go fast,” she said. “So I gave him a nice school round and I think I was in such a dream, and he was jumping so well – I don’t know what I did.
“Lizzie [Bunn, Hickstead director] rang and said ‘You’re a past winner but you have to complete a class to qualify’, so I had to jump a 1.45m in the main ring the next day. I went round the first phase and retired, but that was a worrying weekend!”
“And then, of course, I lost my bridle,” she added.
Harriet and Silver Lift were on course for a record fourth win in 2023, when the bridle came off before the treble of Hickstead planks. They jumped through the combination regardless, but the final fence would have been a step too far.
“My biggest worry then, when I was cantering round, was ‘Who’s going to catch me?’!” she said. “He’s such a shy horse and independent, does what he wants to do and just has certain people he trusts.
“But I knew he’d never hurt me. I was pregnant with Ollie at the time but even though I had no bridle, I knew I was safe.”
Those at Hickstead that day will remember the collective feeling of “Might she still be able to jump the last fence?”
“I can’t believe people thought I could – but I think I thought I could!” she said. “I looked at it, and I was almost trying to push him over, and then I thought ‘What am I doing, I’ve got no bridle!’ I think then in my head was ‘No, that’s a silly idea, let’s make sure this ends in a happy way and be a bit more sensible. But I think if the hill wasn’t there, he might have got to the last.”
One thing that incident did show is Harriet’s horsemanship and the pair’s relationship.
“I trusted him so much in that moment; I knew he’d be fine,” she said.
“We had such a bond; even if I hadn’t ridden him for a while as he’d been with Joss, it was something – I’d known him from the start and if I breathed a certain way, or leaned left, he’d go left. I only had to use my bodyweight for him to know where to go.
“He was just so agile and clever, and listened, and just wanted to do it; he wanted to win as much as you did.”
Silver Lift retires with Derby hero
Harriet said she was very fortunate to have Silver Lift and her Derby hero A Touch Imperious at the same time.
“I had such a bond with them both; I was so lucky they were in the same era as they gave so much diversity to my riding,” she said. “I had the small little racehorse-type Silver Lift then the giant dinosaur! Both of them did absolutely everything for me and now, I go out in that field and A Touch Imperious comes over. He always gives the best cuddles, puts his head down and we have a little chat – but once Silver Lift’s out, I won’t get anywhere near him as he goes feral!”
Silver Lift’s last speed Derby was in 2024, when he and Harriet came second. And Harriet said he always knew exactly where he was.
“He’s never been a horse who would go in the arena and do his flatwork, he already went in a nice way,” Harriet said. “So you’d more likely just go on a little ride; he loved it, like a whizzy little pony, leaping around sideways, jogging the whole way home.
“He was like a 12.2hh pony but when he got to Hickstead every year, he changed. He knew where he was, he’d be jogging back and forth to the stable, he knew it was the place for him. He had his routine, doing the qualifier, then waiting for Saturday, the speed Derby.
“He’s kind, he’s always been driven to win, he’s thrived at Hickstead. He loved his job and was so smooth to ride; he had that thoroughbred in him that made him move so elegantly across the ground.
“You saw some horses getting a bit stressed or hot, or tire halfway round but he wouldn’t blow a candle out when he came out. He enjoyed it, and didn’t find it hard work. I think he really is a legend.”
- Enjoyed reading this? For more expert training advice from top riders and coaches, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website
You may also enjoy reading:
‘I was holding the throatlash’: Speed Derby superheroes jump triple planks with no bridle
Horse and rider become the most successful Hickstead speed derby combination in history
End of an era as Hickstead’s famous Irish bank is removed
The time of your life, the horse of a lifetime: Hickstead legend cheered into happy retirement
Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round
