{"piano":{"sandbox":"false","aid":"u28R38WdMo","rid":"R7EKS5F","offerId":"OF3HQTHR122A","offerTemplateId":"OTQ347EHGCHM"}}
Trending:

Two early Royal Windsor championships for The King’s top show horse

Alex Robinson Alex Robinson

    • The ex-racehorse First Receiver provided The King with a double championship victory on day one of the 2024 Royal Windsor Horse Show as he was crowned 2024 Tattersalls RoR open in-hand champion, as well as Tattersalls thoroughbred ridden show horse series champion.

    The seven-year-old gelding began his Windsor campaign when handled to perfection by Chris Hunnable, who produces the horse for the show ring alongside his wife, H&H columnist Katie Jerram-Hunnable, who took the reins less than two hours later to score the victory in ridden ranks.

    Katie rode First Receiver to glory in the Racehorse to Riding Horse championship at the Horse of the Year Show in 2021, his first appearance at the prestigious final in his debut season. He was previously owned by his breeder, The Queen, and he qualified for HOYS in 2021 at Burghley Horse Trials, becoming her Majesty’s final show ring winner before she died.

    First Receiver is by New Approach and during his time in racing he was trained by Sir Michael Stoute. He has only been very lightly shown and he was last seen at Royal Windsor under-saddle in 2022 when he was just a novice.

    “I’ve never galloped him like that before, but I knew I had to go for it,” commented Katie, as she left the ridden championship. “He was just awesome today. I had a really bad ride on him here last year; he was very worried and nervous about everything, so we’ve given him a year out for both him and I to mentally process everything. I came here today with a lot of anticipation and I hope this proves to people that even if you have a wobble, never give up on your ambitions; it was my dream to win this on him, and he’s only gone and done a double-whammy.”

    Reserve in the 2024 Tattersalls RoR open in-hand championship was Star Caliber, handled by his owner Barry Smith, who had finished second in the flat section behind First Receiver. This Golden Horn six-year-old ran 19 times during his career, winning once in 2020 at Goodwood.

    Joining the flat horses in the 2024 Tattersalls RoR open in-hand championship were the top two exhibits from the national hunt division, Kelly Morgan’s Top Wood, a Kotky Bleu 17-year-old handled by Jasean Spraggett, and Sophie Staveley’s Burnieboozle, a nine-year-old by Frozen Power.

    Enjoy the best of Royal Windsor with Horse & Hound

    To ensure you keep up to date with all the breaking news and the best of the action throughout Royal Windsor Horse Show, with no limits on how much you can read, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website from £1 a week in the UK. Sign up now. And don’t miss our bumper Royal Windsor Horse Show magazine report in the issue of Horse & Hound dated 9 May.

    You may also be interested in:

    Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout major shows like London International and more with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

    Alex Robinson
    Alex Robinson

    H&H showing editor
    Born and raised in the Lake District, Alex has grown up on the showing scene. She has qualified and competed ponies at the Royal International, Horse of the Year Show and Olympia and has first-hand knowledge of the current issues in the showing world as well as the horses, ponies and riders who compete in the sport. Alex joined H&H in January 2018 since when she has cemented its place as the leading equestrian publication for both showing reports and current showing news in the UK.
    Alex Robinson

    You may like...