FEATURE: A view from the Press Office

The thing about the Derby is that it always produces a good story. Over the past 64 years the roll of honour has included everything from teenage riders, veteran horses, a one-eyed winner, a v-sign controversy, a Badminton champion, an iconic four-timer, and one extraordinary pony.

This year was no different. Two former champions going head-to-head in a jump-off, both bidding to join the ranks of the two-time Derby champions. Both would have been a worthy winner, but it was William Whitaker and Flamboyant III who took the eventual honours ahead of David Simpson and his 2023 champion Pjotr Van De Kruishoeve.

So what made William’s win worthy of inclusion in the Derby history books? For a start, it was another entry into the Whitaker/Hickstead annals, a story that’s inextricably entwined. In 64 renewals of this class, members of the Whitaker family have won the time 11 times – that’s 17% of all Derbies, for those stats fans among you. Additionally, it was the second year in a row that a Whitaker has won, with William’s victory coming hot on the heels of his cousin Robert’s first win on Gentlemen Van Het Veldhof.

It was also a case of third-time lucky, after William so narrowly missed out when finishing runner-up in 2024 and 2025. He’d been so obviously devastated to miss out on the title both times, which made his reaction to winning this year even more special – he was so overcome with emotion in his post-win interview, surrounded by his proud children, he could barely get the words out.

By the time of the press conference, the win had obviously sunk in a bit more and William was back to his genial and jovial self, joking about his family members all giving him conflicting advice on the way into the jump-off! He also made reference to having to look after the Boomerang Trophy a bit better, as last time he won it in 2016 it ended up coming back with one ear missing…

But more than anything, there’s Flamboyant III, a horse who has now jumped three superb rounds in the Derby, including two clears; who has been part of three Al Shira’aa Derby jump-offs in a row; who has never been out of the Derby top 10 in each of his five attempts. Theirs is an unusual partnership, as William only started riding him when his owner Elliott Smith broke his leg in the Derby Trial in 2022, and he finished sixth in their first Derby two days later. A catch ride success story – just like William’s uncle John who won on Buddy Bunn in 2004 – and William continues to ‘borrow’ Flamboyant back each year for the Derby. He is quick to give credit to Elliott and the Smith family for all the work they put in in getting the horse ready. On a similar note, we hear Will’s wife Elisabeth got the job of keeping Flamboyant fit in the two weeks running up to the show, with William busy on Nations Cup duty abroad. ‘You did a good job, love!’ said William in the press conference afterwards.

And as for Flamboyant – known as Banksy at home, which turned out to be a pretty prescient nick name – well he was bought for the bargain price of £1,000, he came back from kissing spine surgery, and ended up being one of the most consistent Derby horses of recent times – you can’t get much more of a comeback story than that.

Talking of consistent performers, that's something that also applies to Simpson and Pjotr – they’ve done the Al Shira’aa Derby twice and have finished first and second. The horse was only eight when he won on his Derby debut, and he’s still only 11, so it would be no surprise if David soon gets that coveted second win. They were also superb winners of the Agria Derby Trial, so they did at least get to take home some Hickstead silverware.

Second in the Derby Trial was event rider Alexander Bragg and the grey mare Hegglelane Lane, and the pair were impressive in the Al Shira’aa Derby itself with an eight-fault round to finish joint sixth. Joining them on eight faults was fellow five-star event rider Gemma Stevens on Envoy Merelsnest Z, which was the pair’s best Derby round to date, and Gemma’s reaction after crossing the finish line was just superb, showering her horse with pats and hugs. An eight fault round in a normal showjumping round might not be much to write home about, but eight faults in the Derby – twice as long as a normal jumping course, with 21 jumping efforts – is an achievement anyone would be proud of, and Gemma demonstrated this perfectly. 

Another of the eight-faulters was Commandant Geoff Curran and Hawthornhill. We hear Geoff is hanging up his boots to concentrate on coaching – he’s had many top 10 placings in the Derby with multiple different horses, and we will miss watching him at Hickstead.

Shane Breen looks like he has another potential Derby winner in his string with Eristov, also sixth, while Fanfan De Beaufour finished 12th equal on 12 faults. Shane’s new (or should that be returning?) business partner David Simpson picked up some additional prize money with his first ride Kolman VDP, who also finished 12th, so he could well have two strong chances in 12 months' time.  

Sammie-Jo Coffin was once again the best of the lady riders with just one fence down to share third place. It was the upright at the bottom of the bank that caught out Chaccomo Blue this year; while fellow four-faulters Stephan Dubsky had the very last fence with C The Stars, and Derek McCoppin left all the fences standing but got one toe in the water on the eye-catching Capital Levubu. 

But that’s the joy and heartbreak of the Derby, is it not? Those near-misses, those unlucky moments, and equally those rounds that suggest even better things to come in the future. The Derby lives on, the stories will continue, and next year we’ll have another new chapter in the extraordinary history of this class.

Victoria Goff

Hickstead Press Officer