Rebecca courts success with Festive Fare

Rebecca Court won the Tattersalls RoR Open Ridden Series Championship today at Hickstead, courtesy of the 13-year-old Festive Fare.

She had previously won the same championship with Beware Chalk Pit in 2016.

Festive Fare was trained by Charlie Appleby, and ran nine times on the Flat, winning three times and amassing nearly £65,000 of prize money.

After retiring, the gelding went through the Godolphin retraining scheme.

“I’m particularly thrilled for the horse,” said Rebecca. “I feel like he deserves it. I’ve had a number of really good RORs, and I rate him as one of the best. He’s a proper lightweight hunter. He’s got a terrific brain, terrific limbs, a terrific length of rein, and he’s just phenomenal to sit on.”

Rebecca had spotted the horse at a show and contacted owner Diana Taylor. “I had a really good horse called Saint Are, who I sadly lost just before Hickstead a few years ago to a heart attack. I didn’t have a horse for the classes for a while, so I started stewarding at shows in Scotland, and I came home and said to everyone, ‘I’ve seen this horse and it’s the one I want to take home.’ I got in touch with the lady, and two years later, here he is!

“She did all the hard work – I can’t take any credit for that. Diana absolutely adores him, and she’s done every bit of hard work.”

In reserve was HM The King’s 18-year-old First Fandango, ridden by Katie Jerram Hunnable.

In the Tattersalls RoR Amateur Ridden Series Championship, the title went to the 16-year-old An Cathaoir and Victoria Bertorelli. 

The 16-year-old gelding won the National Hunt section, before going on to take the championship ahead of Maisie Bush on Joe Warbrick.  

An Cathaoir became the first one-eyed horse to win in Hickstead’s International Arena since the 2014 Hickstead Derby winner, Adventure De Kannan.

“We’ve been through a lot with him. After I bought him he lost his eye, and then he went lame, and it looked like everything was against us. It’s taken four or five years of graft – and it has been graft – to get him here,” said Victoria, who lives in South Wales and works in a tack shop.

“Since losing his eye, he’s very sensitive to noise. But he’s come here and knocked it out of the park. I wasn’t confident at all – I knew my horse was good enough, but it’s all got to come together on the day.”

Victoria describes the former point-to-pointer as the ‘coolest lad ever’. “He happilly hacks on his own, he hunts, he jumps, he does everything,” she said. “Our big goal now is HOYS – if he gets there, he never has to set foot in a ring again. We can never top this” 

Surrey-based show producer Lynn Russell added another Hickstead title to her collection after winning today’s Agria Coloured Horse Ridden Championship with the stunning Guardian of the Galaxy. 

The five-year-old is unbeaten so far in the coloured horse ranks. “He was champion at Herts County and champion today,” said Lynn. “He's got the most amazing temperament, and to be honest, when you've produced as many horses as I have, it's a godsend. He's bliss. I broke him in, and it's still so special to take them through from their first rides."

For full results click here.