Nicholson makes it seven

Experience pays dividends for two seasoned campaigners as they triumph in the CCI4*-S

- CATHERINE AUSTEN

Barbury Castle, Wilts

ANDREW NICHOLSON’S record seventh victory in the CCI4*-S at Barbury may not have been over the strongest field he has ever beaten here, but it was certainly further proof of his exceptional skills as a horseman.

Paul and Diana Ridgeon’s Swallow Springs, who was winning this class for a second time – he also took it the last time it happened, in 2019 – slipped around Alec Lochore’s busy cross-country track like silk. He was the fastest in the class with 7.6-time faults. A slightly awkward jump into the water in the main arena was the only point at which the Chillout 13-year-old looked anything but the perfect ride.

However, Swallow Springs was sent to Andrew by Donal Barnwell as a five-year-old because he was extremely naughty.

“Donal rang me up and told me he was very talented but too clever for his own good, and he was bucking everyone off,” said Andrew. “Arthur Pottier rode him until I got back from [winning] Kentucky with Quimbo. Arthur was young and keen and didn’t mind falling off. The horse bucked for two days with me but realized I wasn’t going to fall off. Then he tried turning very sharply mid-air over jumps, which did work for a while. Eventually, he gave up that sort of thing, and anyone can ride him at home now.”

Andrew’s wife Wiggy named him Swallow Springs after some natural chalk springs near Avebury – the (grey-colored) standing stones that gave Andrew’s four-times Barbury and three-times Burghley hero his own name.

“I like coming here, and it’s always nice to win,” said Andrew with typical dry understatement.