King's Warrior

The horse to beat in his day, the "kind and hugely talented" Kings Warrior set the bar high for those who have followed. Tricia Johnson finds out all about him

- Tricia Johnson

DURING the early 1990s, one horse virtually reigned supreme in the show hunter world. This was the superb – and well-named – Kings Warrior, a strapping dark bay middleweight produced and ridden by the late Robert Oliver.

From 1990 to 1995 few prizes eluded the duo, whose accolades included three hunter titles and two overall supreme championships at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), together with three section tricolours at Royal International (RIHS), several victories at The Royal and numerous tricolours on the premier county circuit. Warrior also had a four-year unbeaten open hunter run at Royal Windsor, having first starred in his debut season as a novice in 1990. The remarkable record was only equalled last year (by Robert Walker and View Point).

However, at the outset of his career such was the prejudice among showing people against perceived “foreign” bloodlines, that Warrior’s breeding was noted erroneously either as “unrecorded,” or as being by the thoroughbred stallion Good Apple.

Eventually, though, it was revealed that he had been bred by Fred and Sue Welch, by their Selle Français showjumping stallion Joli Coeur – who in fact had lashings of thoroughbred blood on both sides of his pedigree – out of a warmblood mare called Beatrice, whose breeding genuinely is still a mystery.

He was subsequently sold to showjumper Derek Ricketts, who in turn sold him to Robert as a four-year-old to add to owner Roy Creber’s string.

“He wasn’t the greatest jumper but I could see he was a very smart animal,” recalls Derek, after whom Warrior was subsequently nicknamed. “I’d had contact with Robert Oliver before so I invited him to come and see the horse. He didn’t need any persuading, and bought him on the spot – he did the most brilliant job producing him after that.”