Prestyn Patterson wins at HOYS 75th anniversary

For those unfamiliar with this amazing event, this main arena hosts all the big crowd-pleasing competitions such as special displays (this year the King’s Troop), show jumping, Pony Club Games and scurry driving – the kind of competitions that get the commentators excited, the crowd roaring, and music booming out across the arena.

Katie Parker rides Thistledown Sea Mariner to head the Show Hunter Ponies - Grandstand Media These competitions occur late afternoon/evening when the hall is packed with the general public and excitement levels are high. In stark contrast, the morning sessions are characterised by low spectator numbers made up of enthusiasts, subdued music, and the commentary contained. I suspect that it is a scene very reminiscent of the show’s early history when there was only one arena hosting all the showing classes.

In the meantime, much has changed including the expanded programme of showing classes which is accommodated in the TopSpec Arena from morning until night. This year brought an innovative approach to the judging panel with five travelling from Australia and another from South Africa, all used in a variety of combinations to place the classes. I’ll return to this in another column. However, suffice to say that Scottish exhibitors fared well under the system with much to celebrate as championship successes emerged on each of the five days of the show.

Taylors Hero and Richerd Telford share the spotlight down the centre line in the International Arena - Grandstand Media HOYS brings with it much anticipation following a season of qualification that leads to this great end-of-season finale when delight is often tempered by disappointment in equal measure. Thankfully, it was the former that was experienced on Wednesday, the first day of the show, for 10 year-old Prestyn Patterson from Dumfries, who made his first appearance at HOYS a successful one when he took the Mini Mountain & Moorland Ridden Championship with his Welsh Sec B, Celton Avalon.

Well-known Scottish producer Kirstine Douglas, who is responsible for both rider and pony, praised them describing Avalon as a ‘saint of a pony and a great all-rounder’ and his jockey as a ‘dedicated youngster completely unfazed by his first ride at HOYS’. This was evident when the combination gave a faultless performance which gained them top marks ahead of the remainder of the field.

The spoils remained in the west on Thursday as Myranda Houton from Ayrshire topped the country’s best Welsh Section Bs with her seven-year-old gelding Cadlanvalley Buzz Lightyears. Bred in Pembrokeshire by Hywel and Yvonne Davies, he is sired by the former HOYS 2017 champion, Cadlanvalley Buzby, who accounted for four of the five qualifiers bred by this stud at the show this year. This was Myranda’s third appearance at HOYS with Buzz, having qualified at the Great Yorkshire Show, his best previous result being third.

Ron Brewster and the team of six with the HOYS dray outside the HOYS Arena at the NEC Birmingham He is known for his free, forward-going paces so it was little wonder that he gained the top ride mark in his class from Australian judge Vicky Lawrie, and kept the momentum going when he appeared in the main arena in the evening to stand reserve Ridden Mountain & Moorland Champion to the eventual winning Fell.

Friday witnessed southern producer, Will Morton, take reserve in the Show Hunter of the Year Championship with Sarah Tait’s heavyweight winner Ringwood The Specialist, an enormous dark bay 12-year-old standing well over 18 hands. Bought as a three-year-old, he has qualified for HOYS for the past seven years and had a successful run-up to the show when he took the Supreme Heavyweight title at the British Show Horse Association’s (BHSA) National Championships in September.

Felix, as he is known at home, who impresses both for his size and lightness of foot, has been ‘Mr Consistency’ for Sarah, who retired him at the show with a life away from the limelight beckoning at her family’s farm at Portlethen, Aberdeenshire.

Sarah Tait's reserve champion hunter of the year - Grandstand Media Richard Telford from East Lothian has demonstrated his versatility as a rider and producer over the years and is no stranger to the spotlight down the centre line in the International Arena. In 2005, he partnered Bill Ireland’s Dales mare, Kilmannan Black Velvet, then more recently in 2022, Lyndsay McCulloch’s elegant coloured mare, Wot Perfection. This year, it was the turn of Lady Anne Vestey’s 11 year-old grey heavyweight cob gelding, Taylors Hero, who was judged Show Cob of the Year over last year’s champion.

​We have few cob classes in Scotland, the Royal Highland hosting one of them, and it was here that we saw this impressive grey take his qualifying ticket and championship.

Taylors Hero came to Richard as a very raw recruit from Ireland as a four-year-old, barely handled but recognised as a long-term project in the making. Both his owner and producer over the years kept the faith and it was not until last year that they felt him ready to compete in open classes.

Their patience has paid off handsomely as he has enjoyed a brilliant season including Cob Champion at the BHSA National Championship in his run-up to HOYS. He is one of those handsome grey horses, a true heavyweight demonstrating an ease of going and cheerful disposition, the epitome of the traditional hunting cob. There is no mistaking what he is so it is little wonder the judges like him.

Welsh Sec B Cadlanvally Buzz Lightyears and Myranda Houton - Grandstand Media Just when supporters may have thought that Scottish successes would surely dry up, when it came to Sunday, the last day of the HOYS, Katie Parker from Edinburgh pulled out all the stops when she claimed the Show Hunter Pony of the Year title with her mother’s Thistledown Sea Mariner.

Bred by Caithness-born Grandstand Media boss Sandy Anderson, at his highly successful Welsh pony stud near Loughborough, Mariner was selected as a three-year-old by Sharn Lilley, who has been responsible for all his show ring successes, of which there have been many.

By the Royal Welsh champion Paddock Sahara, Mariner stands out from the crowd of bays and chestnuts, not only due to his attractive grey colour but also for his freedom of action and generous outlook. He appears to be a real child’s pony and been an amazing partner for Katie, who, due to age, bows out of the 133cms class in a blaze of glory.

Looking through the results, congratulations have to go to all the Scottish exhibitors who were placed, may have just missed out this time, but who qualified nonetheless. For many, a welcome rest from top-class showing now comes after a busy season of qualifiers although for others it will be short-lived as the ‘London’ Show in December remains marked up in their diaries

In the meantime, congratulations to the Grandstand Media Team for another remarkable show and a very fitting one to mark the 75th anniversary of HOYS.