Viva Mexico!

An ultra-reliable 17.3hh gelding lands his second grand prix on the trot and a "spicy" mare soars to victory

- SARAH RADFORD

South View Winter Classic, Cheshire

CHRIS SMITH and Harthill Mexico took their second consecutive winter grand prix victory, cruising to a 5.56sec win. Tom Dunning’s 11-year-old gelding has been produced up the grades by his wife Holly.

“Holly has done a very good job with him,” said Chris, who began to take over the ride last year, after Holly had qualified him for a string of finals. “The horse and I are on the same wavelength now. Six months ago, he was two steps behind me in a jump-off and when it’s bigger, you can’t get away with it. Now when I turn back, he knows what I want.”

Seven riders jumped clear around Gillian Milner’s first round track, but the first few combinations in the jump-off all made mistakes.

Flo Norris’s pathfinding round on Elton D’Acceglio was 5.66sec faster than Chris’s time, but she was unlucky to tip the last, while Maddison Heath (Ivory) was over four seconds up, but lowered the first.

After Rebecca Marsh (Stevie G) stormed round, but added eight faults, the remaining combinations opted for steadier clears, with Gemma Wright (Justin Bieber) and Jess Hewitt (Arbitrage) leaving them standing for third and second place respectively.

The door was left open for Chris and Harthill Mexico in final draw, and the 17.3hh grey made light work of the track, using a big, flowing stride to breeze into a comfortable lead.