Royal Highland Show 2010 Thursday 24 June

Thursday June 24th was the first day of the 2010 Royal Highland Show. Opening day saw a huge variety of horse including Hunters, Highland Ponies, Riding Horses and Sports Horses forward for judging as well as lots of other competitions, such as show jumping, farriery, sheep and cattle judging and of course……ice cream, cheese and butter judging!!

The Sports Horse classes were certainly very well represented and are proving a popular part of the show. With 56 entries over the 4 classes we saw some very smart broodmares, foals, yearlings and 2 & 3 year olds. The quality throughout was very impressive, as was the behaviour of all of the exhibits. The Sports Horses were judged under Mr Neil Fiddes of Bedfordshire commencing at 9am in a sensible side ring, close to the lorry park and stabling.

The format of the classes requires all the exhibits in the class to come forward and parade round the ring in catalogue order. They then wait around the edge of the ring to be presented in turn. Each horse was stood for the judge before being walked and then trotted on a triangle. This format allows for a thorough evaluation of the horses as the are seen close up then both gaits are viewed from behind, side on and then head on, so there is nowhere for faults to hide.

First up were the broodmares, with 8 entries and their foals.

This class was won by Flyingbuck Stud’s 6 year old black mare St Pr St Hatara FB by His Highness, with Solaris Sportshorse Ltd’s San Remo mare Abisag in second and Maybe FB, by Medoc, also from Flyingbuck stud in third.

Above: St Pr St Hatara FB

This was followed by the judging of the foals and Messrs H&A Aird (photo below) headed the line up with their foal by Millfield Roly Poly out of their Calvaro Z mare Macklin Callista. Second and third spots were filled with Flyingbuck Stud foals with their San Amour foal from St Pr St Hatara FB in second spot and the Floriscount foal from Maybe FB in third.

Next up was the very full yearling class, with 16 entries forward for judging. Despite the big show atmosphere and the high number of entrants in the ring together, all the yearlings seemed to behave very well. Each horse was inspected individually before the top 6 were pulled in to walk in the centre of the ring with final placings being allocated once the others had returned to the collecting area. After some deliberation the top spot was awarded to number 246 Ms Janice Pilkingon’s roan filly Phanten’s Bucks Fizz (photo below) who is by Phanten out of Zaraglen. Second place went to J, D & L Lamb’s Cullen Bay Auroroa. This bay filly is by Amoureux out of Arabian Symphony. A & L Gorrie took 3rd spot with their black Sandro Hit filly Sanchanted Black, who is out of the mare Enchantress.

Then it was the turn of the 2 & 3 year olds. I’m not too sure why this class is not split; I would have thought the entries justified it, but they were all put forward together. 19 were entered and 17 presented and there were some seriously smart youngsters to be judged. The eventual winner was Izzadora, (photo below) a very smart 3yo chestnut filly (and my personal favourite) who is owned and bred by Mrs Linda Anderson. The filly is by Allround, out of Pandora. I spoke with the handler before the class who said Izzadora had literally come out of the field on the Monday and this was her first outing. She was beautifully behaved and showed herself very well, in my view a worthy winner. Second spot went to Mr & Mrs D I Low-Mitchell’s 3 year old filly Come Easy, by Quite Easy out of The Lady VDL. Third place was taken by Beech Dude, a 2 year old gelding owned by Mrs Ryelle Anne Morton and bred by G G Horses LLP. This ‘dude’ is by It’s The Business, out of Dudline.

With the sun shining, the Championship concluded the Sports Horse Section which saw all first and second prize winners back into the ring for a final judging. Reserve Champion was the winning yearling, Ms Janice Pilkington’s Phantens Bucks Fizz, with my favourite, Izzadora, (below) standing Champion for Mrs Linda Anderson.