Pink Panther on the prowl in Six Year Old final

Today saw the culmination of the Billy Stud Auction Star Of The Future classes at Hickstead’s All England September Tour.

In the Six Year Old class, Katie Speller – stable jockey to Shane Breen – headed a six-strong jump-off with Z7 Pink Panther. Only two combinations produced double clears, with Katie crossing the finish 0.4sec quicker than runners-up Harry Bateman and Strike A Pose III.

“He is a super consistent six-year-old, this year we’ve mainly concentrated on getting double clears at Newcomers and Foxhunter, so this is the first time that we’ve really pushed him against the clock,” said Katie. “He’s really brave and super quick, and there’s plenty more to come from him.”

Team Z7 narrowly missed out on a winning double in the Five Year Olds, when Shane Breen and Z7 For T took second place behind eventual winners Nicholas Edwards and Kinmar Heathe Ridge Hero.

“He’s an Irish-bred, that Karen Jones from Langshot Stud bought as a three-year-old,” said Nicholas, who had been one of the joint winners in the Four Year Old class with this horse 12 months previously. “We’ve taken our time with him and he only jumped his first 1.20m the week before the British Young Horse Championships so he has stepped up quite quickly in the last month. He’s never gone got that quick before in his life but he stayed with me and I couldn’t be more happy with how he tried for me.”

This year’s Four Year Old Star of the Future final saw eight horses jump double clear to share first place.

Ella Dalton and Ben Walker were the winners of the two Breen Equestrian 1.40m Open classes during the first few days of the show.

Ben Walker and the 11-year-old Creevy Pacino Cruise headed the first of these qualifiers for Sunday’s ClipMyHorse.TV Sussex Cup, which took place on Thursday. The class saw 21 of the 52 combinations jump clear in the first round, making for an extremely competitive jump-off, but Ben had the advantage of being the last to go against the clock.

“He was brilliant, he loves that big grass arena,” said Ben. “He’s got unlimited scope and stride. He does a lot of county shows and he’s got a lot of experience. He is used to jumping bigger classes but he’s had a bit of time out so I’m just slowly building him back up. That was his first win since coming back so I’m delighted.”

The second qualifier saw 53 horses come forward, but this time only 10 jumped clear rounds. Ella Dalton, the winner of the British Speed Derby at Hickstead in 2023, added another Hickstead win to her tally when posting the fastest time on Hurricane VDL.

Though drawn mid-division, Ella produced a very quick time of 67.32sec to go nearly three seconds quicker than last year’s winner Philip Spivey (NBE Jenny Don’t Be Hasty), who took second place.

“I’ve had Hurricane for nearly a year, and he felt great today. The course definitely suited him, he kept flowing and was very good,” said Ella. “All summer we’ve been doing international Stairways and lots of county shows, and I’ve loved getting to know him. He’s a very special horse and I’m very lucky.”

For full results, click here.