Edwards is Happy to have first Hickstead main ring win

Carmen Edwards came out on top of this morning's Breen Equestrian 1.40m Open, with the 13-year-old mare Happy Valerie.

Drawn 71st to go out of 76 starters, Edwards crossed the finish in a time of 62.93sec, more than a second faster than runners up Gaspard Maksud and Ballypatrick Tiberius.

“I’ve had Happy Valerie since she was a three-year-old, so I’ve produced her all the way,” said Carmen, 28. “She’s won speed classes, Grands Prix classes, ranking classes, puissances, but we’ve never won a class in the International Arena so it’s nice to tick that one off the bucket list.”

The Cheshire based rider now has his sights set on winning Sunday's ClipMyHorse.TV Sussex Cup, and he is hoping his winning form will continue into the second week of the All England September Tour.

“I love Hickstead, it’s brilliant for producing young horses as well as being able to jump older ones in some great classes too, like today,” he added.

This morning’s 1.40m competition was the second of the two qualifiers for the ClipMyHorse.TV Sussex Cup, with the first taking place on Thursday afternoon.

That class saw Ireland’s David Simpson take the win with Ovidius VD Donkhoeve, ahead ahead of Gemma Stevens and her regular Al Shira’aa Derby partner Envoy Merelsnest Z.

The two-phase class resulted in a very tight finish, with just 1.01sec separating the top six riders.

Ovidius VD Donkhoeve is an 11-year-old gelding owned by Donald Whitaker and his partner Nicola Pohl. “He’s a super horse, and very fun to ride,” said David, who also picked up fifth place with Billy Fern. “It’s amazing to get the opportunity to get to jump the horses in the main arena here at Hickstead, the ground is incredible and the horses feel great jumping off it.”

The day also featured the Billy Stud Auction Star of the Future finals, with Lucy Townley – the granddaughter of Hickstead founder Douglas Bunn – winning the Six Year Old Final with Billy On My Mind, and finishing fourth with Billy Wagner.

It was a superb result for the Billy Stud team, with Billy horses filling the top four places. But none could better the time set by Lucy, who completed the jump-off in a time of 46.54sec to go ahead of Henry Turrell and Billy Oreo in second (47.31sec), while Alex Hempleman and Billy Foster (51.13sec) took third.

“I’m delighted, I’ve had this class in mind for these two horses all year, so to finish first and fourth is brilliant,” said Lucy, who now has her sights set on the FEI World Jumping Breeding Championships at Lanaken with both horses.

The Five Year Old division went to Nicole Pavitt and Versailles 16, ahead of Sophie Lincoln (BE Golden Air) and Katie Speller (Z7 Leela).

Versailles 16 is a granddaughter of Don VHP, who was ridden by Nicole’s sister Louise. “She’s naturally very quick and careful,” said Nicole, who is also planning to take her to Lanaken. “It’s extra special because she’s a homebred, and we bred her mum too.”

In the Four Year Old Star of the Future, five riders jumped double clear to share the win - Pippa Funnell (Billy Whitby), Jude Burgess (Golden Earring), Michaela Tomlinson (Colja), Frankie Penford (Chacco Diamant) and Leesa Long (Nobel Speciality). 

For full results, click here.