Holly Gillott has won Hickstead’s Derby Trial, beating Harriet Nuttall into second place.
Huge track
It may have only been the qualifier for Sunday’s big event, but the huge track saw the biggest names in showjumping fall by the wayside.
The first clear didn’t come until the 23rd rider, courtesy of Robert Whitaker and USA Today – and only six more joined them in the jump-off out of a class of 68.
Frustratingly close
Last year’s Derby winners, Trevor Breen and Adventure du Kannan, had three down. The Hickstead favourite went on to pick up another 12 faults riding Loughnatousa WB – the horse who won the Derby in 2012 with fellow Irish rider Paul Beecher.
The 2010 Derby winners Guy Williams and Skip Two Ramiro also had three down, while Geoff Billington was eliminated after his horse ELO stopped twice in the treble combination.
David Simpson came frustratingly close to producing the class’s first clear, but incurred one time fault riding Gotti Van Paemel. Six riders had four faults, while fifteen of them had two down.
Best till last
It was nearly an all-British jump-off, with Peter Smyth from Ireland the only exception. Peter (Cavalier Rusticana) went on to have two down while Robert and Douglas Duffin (Quidam B Z) had one pole each.
Spencer Roe and Wonder Why provided the first clear, in a steady time of 68.63sec, which could clearly be beaten.
Nigel Coupe and Golvers Hill were four seconds faster, but then Harriet Nuttall and A Touch Imperious took the lead in a time of 62.68sec.
Last to go was Holly and Dougie who shaved almost a second off Harriet’s time to win the class on 61.72sec.
‘Who’s Holly Gillott?’
Still a relative newcomer at this level, Holly’s career is going from strength to strength. She is becoming a regular face on Nations Cup teams under Di Lampard’s tutelegae and Holly and Dougie helped Britain take second place in Lummen and win a few weeks later in Rome.
“I was in the collecting ring outside Hickstead’s international arena and I heard someone say ‘who’s Holly Gillott’ and I thought, wait a minute and I’ll show you,” laughed Holly, after winning the Derby Trial.
She credits her ‘once in a lifetime’ horse Dougie and her team support for her success. She also told H&C she used to hunt Dougie when he was young.
“It puts him in good stead in a ring like this,” she told H&C. “But I won’t be competing him on Sunday in the Derby – he’s too valuable!
‘One in a million’
Second-placed Harriet and A Touch Imperious are serious contenders for the TheEquestrian.com Derby having come third here last year.
Harriet told H&C the 11-year-old gelding is ‘one in a million’.
“He likes to get close to the fence, but he’s just so scopey,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the Derby, as this large arena really suits him. But I’m not so keen on the bank – do you have any idea how big it looks from the top of a 17.2hh horse?!”
You can watch the Hickstead Derby live, right here on H&C.The action will be shown from 1pm to 5.30pm on both the channel (UK and Ireland only) and on the livestream to viewers worldwide.