A total of four riders were declared the winners of the Tagg Puissance at Horse of the Year Show, all clearing the wall at a massive 2.11m (6ft 11in).
Fearless
Joe Clayton, Charlotte Flack, David Simpson and Donald Whitaker put in fearless performances to make it through to the fifth and final round. However, none of them managed to clear the 2.19m (7ft 2in) behemoth – which put them equal first.
H&C blogger Jay Halim also went clear until the last round, when Goodman Accobado said ‘no thanks’. However, Jay was clearly delighted to make it this far –
galloping around the arena and punching the air in celebration when the 12-year-old gelding went clear over 2.11m.
Bit worried
Charlotte Flack produced the stand-out performance of the night with Ratina Kan, who looked like they could keep jumping the wall all night. However, Charlotte admitted to H&C her nerves got the better of her on the final attempt.
“I’ve never jumped anything that big and the mare hasn’t either, so I was a bit worried about it,” said Charlotte, who is trained by Billy Twomey. “I put too much leg on her, which was possibly why she had it down bit.
“I should have just trusted her, but it’s difficult when you don’t know what they’re going to do and it’s a big as this.”
Too careful
Joe Clayton had two horses in the competition: Noctambule Courcell who went out in round four and the bouncy Rokim. He looked like a pony skipping down to the wall each time, but took the whole wall down in the final round.
“He was trying to be too careful, and thank god it came down,” said Joe.
The youngest rider in the competition was Donald Whitaker, brother of Ellen. This was the 22-year-old’s second puissance but he jumped the wall as if he’d been doing it all his life. He probably has, bareback, with no reins. He’s a Whitaker after all.
Jump a bus
Quick Laurra AS Z couldn’t quite make the final height, however, and pulled out a few bricks. as did Richi Rich 111, impressively ridden by David Simpson.
“The mare has jumped brilliant all show,” said David. “I have never sat on horse with as much scope as her, she could jump a double decker bus, but I think she was a little bit tired in the last round.”
Tim Stockdale was also competing on a horse he only started riding six weeks ago. The pair made a lovely job of the wall, but he decided to retire Erasmus VD Heffinck after the third round.
Shock performance
The shock performance of the night went to Michael Hutchinson, who was the favourite after winning the puissance at the Dublin Show, where Acorad 3 cleared 2.20m (7ft 3in).
He made the trip to HOYS all the way from Ireland just to compete in the class, but had a stop at the first fence. Acorad 3 then went on to clear the wall, with inches to spare.
“I’m very disappointed for the owners,” he said. “He’s a bit spooky and the first round is always difficult. We didn’t have enough rhythm through the corner, but these things happen.”