Rising star Proudley steals the show in Grand Prix

One of British showjumping’s brightest young talents secured today’s Breen Equestrian All England Grand Prix at Hickstead, held on the final day of the All England September Tour.

Yorkshire’s Rachel Proudley, 20, took the top spot in the £9,000 Grand Prix with HK Horses’ nine-year-old grey mare Guess Du Mont.

“What an unbelievable performance she put on,” said Rachel. “We’ve had a lot of fun with her so far, and this is her first Grand Prix win so we’re looking forward to seeing what else she brings.”

Only nine of the 60 starters produced clear rounds to go through to the jump-off, with Rachel having the unenviable draw of being second to go. However, she laid down the gauntlet with an extremely quick time of 37.09sec round the shortened track, piling pressure on the subsequent riders. The 2023 winner Jessica Burke came close to winning the title for a second time, having bettered Rachel’s time (36.28sec), but her ride Romelus De Muze hit the penultimate Hickstead planks to relegate them to fifth.

“I knew it was going to be a fast jump-off so I just had to go in there and go as fast as I could and leave all the jumps up, and she tried so hard,” said Rachel, who is the reigning European Young Rider champion. “We’ve had a great show here, and the young horses have jumped well too,” said Rachel.

Another European gold medallist took the Stoner Jewellers All England 1.20m Open Championship, when Katie Bradburne won on board Sophie Johnstone’s Westpoint Foreign Affair.

Katie and Westpoint Foreign Affair were part of the victorious British team at last year’s FEI Pony European Championships. The pair was last to go in the seven-strong jump-off, and Katie took advantage of this late draw to shave almost 2sec off the time set by Sandra Low Mitchell and La-Di-Dah.

“She’s my favourite to be in the ring with,” said Katie of the eight-year-old pony, who is now for sale as Katie has aged-out of pony classes.  

Nicole Pavitt has been on superb form at Hickstead this season, and she added another victory to her tally when winning the All England Novice Championship with Atlas 16.

It was the home-bred stallions first win in the International Arena, and he follows in the footsteps of his dam Amaryllis, who gave Nicole many wins at Hickstead. “He’s by the black stallion Goldstar, so it makes it more special that I rode both of his parents,” said Nicole.

Leesa Long and Lettuce II took runner up spot, finishing just over a second behind Nicole’s winning times.

For the second week in a row, Jodannah Davis won the Spidge Photography 1.00m Open Championship with Christo Z. Fourteen made it through to the jump-off, but only five combinations produced double clears, with Jodannah finishing 0.6sec ahead of Jessica Brady and Cromwell Du Banco.