A Lancashire-based mother and daughter duo prevailed in the ridden coloured horse and pony of the championship at the 2021 Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
Coming from the first class of the day, the plaited pony class, ultra-consistent 11-year-old Lostock Up To Date (Simon) gave home-producer Sarah Harrison her first win after being the bridesmaid at HOYS on seven different occasions.
Interestingly, Simon’s six-year-old full-brother Lostock Up Town Funk, owned and ridden by Tayla Lewis, stood second behind him in his final.
The geldings, bred by Caroline Hamilton, certainly hail from exceptional parentage, being out of the prolific ridden mare Up To D and by top performance Lostock Huntsman, who won this year’s Kellythorpes leading coloured sire award.
Sarah and her mother Sharon Harrison bought Simon as a four-year-old.
“We saw him as a yearling at CHAPS championships and I asked Caroline if we could have first refusal,” said Sharon, of the RIHS winner.
“He’s been to HOYS three times (prior to 2021) and was placed, but we didn’t bring him for the first few years during his career; he’s a tricky pony to ride so needed time.”
Simon won two HOYS qualifiers this year:
“We’ve had all those seconds (at HOYS) with different ponies, too, so this means the world,” concluded Sharon.
After the championship Sarah said: “I’ve waited 28 years to be champion at HOYS; we’ve been coming since 1992. It’s a lot of hard work and commitment but we’ve finally done it.”
Tracey Veale’s superb lightweight cob Red Rock III and his pilot Vicky Hesford had to settle for reserve once again, repeating the same result they’d achieved in the cob championship the evening before.
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