Lily Attwood may have called Guy Williams a rather rude name as his round secured the Thistledown Cup at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
Guy and 19-year-old Lily, who is based at his yard, took first and second, on Rouge De Ravel and Cor-Leon VD VlierBeek Z respectively, Guy crossing the finish line almost exactly a second ahead.
Both riders had jumped clear in the first round, and in this competition the first-round times decided the jump-off order so Guy, as the fastest, was last to go of the six clears.
Lily had taken the lead with a super fast round but speed specialist Guy’s 16-year-old stallion, who loves to run and jump, was galloping from start to finish, turning on a sixpence and with no chance of touching a pole.
“Lily made me work for it!” said Guy. “She’s very fast; we both know what the other does, and both our horses jumped well, so we’re happy.”
Guy said his Ultimo Van Der Moude stallion, who won and came second in two CSI5* classes in St Tropez at the end of September, is “probably one of the fastest horses in the world”.
“Today’s course really suited him,” he said. “This show isn’t the best for him, he gets really feisty and stallion-like around the ponies, so in the first round, I wasn’t trying to go the fastest, he was just quick anyway, and he jumped so well.”
Guy said Lily will go a long way.
“She’s deadly in the ring,” he said. “She takes chances other people wouldn’t, and she’s got a bit of grit about her. She’s not unlike me, quite an aggressive rider, but horses jump well for her.”
And asked if he knew what Lily said when she saw he had beaten his time, Guy said: “I can imagine!”
Guy had a good first day at HOYS as well as the Thistledown Cup win, coming third in the Stoneleigh Stakes on Mr Blue Sky UK, and second in the Grandstand Welcome Stakes on Cicero II.
“We’re happy to be back here,” he said. “It’s probably one of the best three-star atmospheres you’ll ever get.”
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