Briar Burnett-Grant has won so much in her jumping career already that it was hard to believe she hadn’t yet had her name engraved on the Big Red Cup, one of the most coveted trophies of the Land Rover Horse of the Year Show. It’s awarded to the winner of the Young Rider class, one of the highlights of Friday afternoon’s show jumping action.
And as the only rider to leave all the rails up over two rounds – with her lovely mare, Fiber Fresh Delphine NZPH – it was a decisive victory indeed today for the Taupo 19-year-old.
“Phew – it’s about time I won it,” she jokes. “I was beginning to feel the pressure because I’ve only got a couple of years left [as a Young Rider].”
Briar can’t quite recall how many times she’s started in this class at HOY, but suspects it’s been each year since she was aged 14.
She’s already got the Olympic Cup and the Pony of the Year titles under her belt, so the Big Red Cup makes a nice set for the trophy cabinet.
The class got off to an unfortunate start when two-times defending champion Emily Hayward, looking to make it three from three with Yandoo Lady Gold, was eliminated when her mare stopped early in the round, decanting her over her head.
Most of the rest of the riders had two or more rails, and the time also proved a little tricky to achieve.
Briar went into the ring late in the class “in my own bubble”, not realising there had been no clears. “We had a shoe fall off in the warm-up, and so that was a bit stressful. I was so busy dealing with that, I didn’t watch anybody go. I didn’t find out there were no clear rounds until I came out, so that was a bit of a nice surprise!”
But Briar had incurred two time faults in that first round, so it was by no means completely in the bag at that stage. The four combinations on four faults, and two who were on five, all came back for round two, with Briar last to go.
A clear from any of her rivals would have put pressure on Briar to go fast, but rails fell for each of them, so Briar entered the ring with a cushion of six penalties.
“When I jumped the second-to-last, I could breathe out, because I knew then I had it as long as I didn’t fall off!” she grins.
Delphine is by Kannan and out of Spring NZPH, and was bought by the Burnett-Grant family when she was rising five; she’s the first horse Briar has produced from scratch.
She doesn’t look the easiest of rides, and Briar says she’s feisty and highly strung “just the way I like them!” but effortlessly scopey and careful.
She’s just seven, and Briar says she thought about entering her into the Seven-year-old title class held earlier today instead, but decided in the end to step her up to the bigger challenge. “I think I made the right decision!”
Leeshelle Small was the quickest of the riders on eight faults, riding AMS Glenbrooke Archie Bunker (Cassini II), and Oliver Croucher third on Waitangi Surf. Kate Herdson was fourth with Idol D, and Brooke Hawthorne fifth on Ziggy Stardust GNZ.
