Cookstown makes cracking comeback

A working hunter returns to the ring, a coloured show cob cements his partnership with a new rider and a Fell shows ample promise

- TRICIA JOHNSON

BSPS Area 15A Mid Herts, Addington EC, Bucks 

SUCCESS came at the third attempt for worker specialist Craig Kiddier and the Vaughan family’s 11-year-old Cookstown (CT), who headed a starstudded open Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) worker class and then stood champion.

This feat was all the more remarkable as it came only four months after the gelding was treated for atrial fibrillation.

A field of 31 set out over Jamie Lyttle’s track, and only seven returned faultless. In the end, just three marks separated Cookstown from runners-up Wyworrie and owner Ginny Rose, who have been knocking on the door all season.

“We were absolutely thrilled with CT today,” said Craig. “It was a very full-up course with plenty of questions, but he’s a very good jumper so I knew if I just kept him forward and rode my lines, he’d do the rest.”