Good weather, great sport and a record-breaking crowd were the name of the game for Easter Saturday at the Eventing Spring Carnival, at Thoresby Park.
Lycetts Grantham Cup CCI4*
In the history of the Lycetts Grantham Cup never before has a horse and rider combination delivered back-to-back wins, until today. Emily King and Valmy Biats delivered a near perfect three phases to retain their crown, alongside the Polly Phillips Memorial Trophy.
“He was unreal” exclaimed a jubilant King. “I’m so proud of how Valmy performed here he felt amazing.”
“It was the smoothest, easiest, in sync one [cross-country round] I think I’ve ever had with him. He’s quite lairy and really brave and strong, and you have to really set up for everything and think so much. I set out and had it all planned what I needed to do everywhere, and I sort of didn’t need to, he was doing it on his own and I was like, ‘this is nice’, and I could let him gallop. He was just really in sync and lovely, so hopefully, if we carry on like that, he will be lush.”
Speaking of their Thoresby dominance, King paid tribute to how Valmy enjoys living out and working in all weather conditions, which leaves them well suited to early season ground conditions.
“We’ve had a tough spring, and the going was sticky out there, but it was fine. We had to look after them in certain places, but there were parts of it where we could really let them flow, which for the big picture of the Spring, it acts as such a great prep run.”
Delivering the fastest round of the Grantham Cup, was Ireland’s 5-star winning Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue. The combination has been regarded as one of the most consistent, and fastest, jumpers in any field over recent seasons and didn’t disappoint the onlooking Easter crowds.
“It’s been great to come out off the back of Maryland to a proper event and have a good run around a proper cross-country, and what Thoresby brings is what we call proper eventing, true eventing. It was a true four-star, and I’m sure the results from the results page will tell that story. And rightly so, hats off to Stuart Buntine and his team, to me they put on a world class show, so thank you to them!”
Rounding out the top three was Yasmin Ingham and world championship winning partner Banzai Du Loir, following a steadier ride across the country.
“He did a lovely test yesterday and then jumped a great, quick clear round today,” said Yasmin. “He was trying really hard for me. With him, there’s a bigger picture this year, and it’s always building up to that point. It’s all about progression, and about building the confidence together. It’s early doors, but I’m delighted – it’s been a really good weekend.
“All the jumping was brilliant; it was a very testing track, with lots of interesting questions, and lots of new questions that we haven’t seen before.”
“It was actually nice to have a bit of a mix-up and a bit of a head scratcher. There were lots of options everywhere, so you could do whatever suited your horse and really ride what’s underneath you.”
BEDE Events CCI4*-S Section I
Former world number one, Tim Price and Jarillo climbed the leader board in the second of the two CCI4*-S sections to take the eventual win, by the narrowest of margins. In a section where jumping and time penalties results in a major leader board shuffle, consistency in all three phases paid off for Price.
“He’s a real trier, very honest, he’s one of these sort of modern event horses that, he’s a good jumper, he’s very classy, he’s not just a roll your sleeves up and go, but he’s honest and genuine and enjoys cross country and he’s brave which is all good attributes really.”
Tickets for the remainder of the event are still available to buy online and, on the day, with fun for all the family guaranteed. However, due to unprecedented demand sales of the Easter Egg Hunt tickets and Easter Sunday Bundle have had to close early.
Tickets available via www.thoresby-horse.co.uk
Report supplied by BEDE Events.
