ROBERT SHAW gave a flawless performance to take the overall supreme championship on the lightweight hunter Dartans Peaky Blinder. The nine-year-old by OBOS Quality is owned by Robert’s partner MarkWilliam Hambleton and they have produced him for the past two years before making the decision to purchase him only five weeks ago.
“He has taken a long time to mature but we will now aim to campaign him in the hunter qualifiers,” said MarkWilliam, who added: “We took him home after he won the hunter championship on Friday so he was refreshed ready for this supreme.”
Taking reserve was the first ridden combination of 10-yearold Lilly Meer and the novice Welsh section A Heniarth Mr Moonlight. The five-year-old grey gelding was purchased by Lilly’s mother Eve last year newly backed, and while the journey has been challenging, Lilly has taken it slow and kept things varied.
“In the past three months, everything has come together for them and all the hard work and tears have started to pay off,” said Eve. “You can’t practise that evening performance atmosphere at home but he was absolutely golden and just went better and better over the weekend.”
The pair contested their first-ever Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) qualifier at Royal Welsh where they were pulled top and dropped to third, but they are now planning to come out and do more qualifiers next year.
“We won’t chase them though, we only do the shows we enjoy and can have a day out at. We may try the junior mountain and moorland (M&M) working hunter pony qualifiers as they have been enjoying the first ridden M&M worker classes recently,” added Eve.
First reserve went to the working hunter champion, the 15-year-old Caesar Salad, making his show-ring debut here with owner Amelia Short. Caesar broke his leg in a field accident in 2021 but has made a full recovery, and has previously been team chasing and whipped-in for three seasons with the Puckeridge Hunt.
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