High Quality magic for Morton

Skilled course building and plenty of strong entries produce gripping competition at South View

- MARGARET SHAW

South View Winter Classic, Cheshire

AT the end of a very busy and fruitful four days, Derek Morton put the icing on his cake when he produced the winning time of 42.47sec in the winter classic grand prix.

Second-drawn in the seven-strong jump-off and riding Science Supplements KBS High Quality (Liam), Derek took every short cut at speed to stay ahead of Donny Janciauskas and Cool Quarz, who finished in 44.80sec.

“We needed to be fast and the course didn’t give anything away, but Liam is a big horse with a massive stride and a huge engine,” said Derek.

Course-designer Gillian Milner earned great praise for her courses over the weekend and her grand prix track brought the curtain down on a hugely successful show.

With airy verticals, roll-backs, three doubles and a square final oxer, the first-round course posed questions throughout for the 40 starters. But the seven hopefuls fighting it out for top honours had produced classic first-round clears and all had their sights set on the £1,000 winner’s purse.

After Ian Fives opened with eventual seventh-placed Horinde, Derek set a blistering pace and Liam matched his rider’s determination all the way.

“Liam is a very brave horse and I do have difficulty controlling his energy as he’s sometimes too brave, but he covers so much ground and can jump and turn with ease,” said Derek, who pulled off a series of tight turnbacks.

Owner Zoe Snedker originally bought her OBOS Quality nine-year-old for working hunter classes, but once Derek recognized his potential over coloured fences, Liam was quickly switched.

After contesting the 2018 Foxhunter and 2019 winter B&C finals, under Derek’s guidance, Liam has continued to step up with ease and he came here showing good grand prix form after finishing third at Aintree.