Adrian Speight is on a winning streak with British Bred Millfield Baloney
Adrian Speight hit winning form with Judith Whitham’s Millfield Baloney, winning over £10,000 in under a week on the county show circuit at Royal Highland Show and Royal Norfolk.
“What a horse, he jumped some great rounds for a 17-year-old but the more he does, the better he is, he’s like a well-oiled wheel,” said Grimsby, North Lincolnshire-based Adrian.
The pair clocked up good results at Suffolk County, winning the Welcome Stakes and taking a close second in the International Stairway to collect over £2,000 in prize money, but they hit the jackpot at Royal Highland, winning the £8,000 to the winner Coutts RHS Grand Prix.
Twenty-two riders tackled the challenging 1.50m course over 13 fences with five coming through to the jump-off, a confident Adrian taking every tight, inside turn option to win with more than six seconds to spare over nearest rival Carmen Edwards on Happy Valerie.
“He did everything, I couldn’t have asked for more,” said Adrian, who has partnered the Balou Du Rouet x Kanudos gelding – bred by Sue Jaggar of Millfield Stud in Settle, North Yorkshire – for five years.
Four days later, they added the International Stairway at Royal Norfolk Show and a further £2,500 to their tally.
They supplied the only clear in the first round with the fences standing at 1.50m but were joined in the jump-off by the fastest faulters – carrying their faults from the first round – for a four-horse jump-off, but the pressure was on. Fellow rider Phillip Miller – on four faults from round one – jumped clear second time out to lead the class.
“The ground on the first day was absolutely spot on, the effort that has gone into maintaining the Grand Ring is second to none, it was fantastic, but some overnight rain made the going on the soft side. Baloney prefers it on the firm side of soft and Phil’s horse jumped a good second round and that adds to the pressure. I had to keep the pace up in case we had a fence down but it went my way on the day,” said Adrian, who finished 5.72 seconds in front of time as well as producing the only double clear.
Baloney may be of an age now, but he keeps Adrian on his toes.
“The biggest thing is keeping him focused, he has so much blood and still puts in the occasional spook, even at his age. We keep him in the same routine and have tried to do a bit less with him, but he thrives on jumping. Great Yorkshire is next on the bucket list – I’d love to win the Cock o’ The North, we clocked the fastest time but had the last fence down last year,” added Adrian.
Kindly supplied by British Showjumping & Photo provided by Top Shots Photography
