Despite being second last to perform in the jump-off, 22-year-old local rider Robert Murphy and Julie Andrews’ How Easy kept their cool to triumph in the winter 1.35cm championship final at the 2022 British Showjumping Spring Championships held at Northcote Stud (24—27 March).
The Talan 10-year-old bay gelding manoeuvred impressively tight turns while searching for long strides with Lancashire showjumper Robert in perfect harmony. After watching earlier combinations role the last fence, Robert knew how to tackle this specific jump-off situation:
“It was a fairly long course so I tried to stay calculated as I went round,” said Robert, who is a regular face at Northcote Stud. “There were a lot of tight turns to technical jumps so I tried to keep it neat and tidy while keeping things quick. Some of the earlier riders went fast and had the last down, so I tried to keep my head as best I could on the approach to this fence by keeping the turns smooth.
“Easy has loads of ability; this is just the start of this horse. He could go on to jump much bigger things in the future, and he really tries to keep the fences up for me.”
Robert took over the ride on Easy at the end of 2021:
“He’s been jumping consistent clears at 1.40m,” Robert added. “But he’s still a bit green at this level so we’ve been getting him out as much as we can to prepare for the summer season.”
Robert has enjoyed a superb run at the British Showjumping Spring Championships this week, including taking second spot in the five-year-old winter final on his family’s Billy Earp earlier in the day.
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