After a fantastic Al Shira'aa Hickstead Derby Meeting, our press officer Victoria Goff reflects on some of the standout moments from the show
The GOAT. It’s a phrase that gets bandied about quite often these days, particularly in sport, but when it comes to William Funnell’s record in the Al Shira’aa Derby, it’s truly deserved.
Back in 2018, William joined the illustrious quartet of Eddie Macken, Harvey Smith, and John and Michael Whitaker as a four-time winner of the Hickstead Derby. Now, he stands above the others as the only rider to win this class five times.
Local boy William grew up watching the Derby – he was at Hickstead when Eddie Macken and Boomerang won for a fourth time, and he remembers feeling inspired to one day ride in the class himself. William made his Derby debut when he was still a teenager, when he fell off at the Bank, got back on and completed the course. The Derby was a class he always wanted to win and he kept coming so close – like the year he knocked down the smallest fence on the course with Comex (something that happened again during his winning round with Dublon!), or when he missed the ride on Buddy Bunn through injury in 2004, only for John Whitaker to pick up the catch ride and go on to win. Then came the great Mondriaan, who would give William that longed-for first win in 2006 before finishing top again in 2008 and 2009. Then came a nine year wait for the home-bred Billy Buckingam to give him a fourth title…
And now Dublon, the gentle giant of a chestnut with his blonde tipped mane, a Spanish sports horse – and we haven’t had many of those in the Derby – who gave William his coveted fifth win. Here’s a horse who has jumped clear round the Derby in 2023 only to miss out in the jump-off by 1.5sec; he jumped brilliantly again in this year’s class for four faults, then produced a perfect clear in the jump-off when William needed it most. The first horse to win the Derby Trial and the Derby in the same year since, well, Mondriaan did it in 2006. What a star.
Talking of the Agria Derby Trial, we had another year of joint winners after William, Robert Whitaker and Carlos Ribas all decided to avoid jumping off in order to save their horses for the Derby itself. In winning the Trial, all three marked themselves as the ones to watch on Sunday, and the form carried through in the Derby. Robert and Evert finished in seventh place on 12 faults, in what was the horse’s first trip round the course, while Carlos and Hickstead Derby debutant Juan Van’t Arkelhof produced the first of the four fault rounds, ending up in third place after the jump-off. The charismatic Brazilian, who always speaks with such passion and eloquence about his love of Hickstead and of the Derby, has been knocking on the door in both the Derby and the Speed Derby for several years now, and it’s surely just a matter of time before he gets a win in one or both classes. Impressively, his results keep coming with various different horses, so he’s obviously got a real talent for producing horses for Hickstead.
Robert wasn’t the only Whitaker to impress in the Derby – his cousin William came very close to winning when he and Flamboyant III jumped off against Funnell and Ribas for honours. You could sense the Yorkshire rider was devastated to come so near to winning a second Derby title only to miss out, but he was very gracious in defeat. It was his third time competing in the Derby with Elliott Smith’s ride Flamboyant, having had top 10 finishes in 2022 and 2023 as well as this year’s second place, and we really hope to see this pair back again in 12 months’ time for another crack.
Ellen Whitaker had a great round with the ex-eventer Demi Louvo to finish on 16 faults – we expect this stylish mare to go even better next year now she’s had a spin round the course. And their distant cousin (we really need to look up the Whitaker family tree again!) Joe Clayton had just one down and a few time faults with Gentleman VH Veldof, the horse’s best round in the Derby to date, to finish sixth. Shane Breen also impressed with Fanfan De Beaufour for eight faults – joint fourth with the equally impressive Frenchman Emeric George and Dune Du Ru. Shane’s other first timer Now's The Time was jumping well until elimination at the Devil's Dyke – we reckon these two horses will be serious contenders by the time the 2025 Derby rolls around.
A final shout out to Sammie-Jo Coffin, who had another good round on Chaccomo Blue to finish seventh, alongside the 18-year-old grand campaigner Gelvins Touch and Dermott Lennon.
We said farewell to another Derby great, A Touch Imperious, shortly before this year’s class, and Harriet Biddick missed out on her fourth Speed Derby title again when two early poles from Silver Lift left them with too much to do. Instead we had a new name on the Roll of Honour, with Elliott Rowe winning with the 11-year-old stallion Hyperion VP Wisbecq. Elliott had trained last year’s winner Ella Dalton – winning it as a trainer was good, he said, but winning it as a rider was even better.
As for the other highlights – there were so many. The hilarity of watching top riders and their junior counterparts dress up as pop stars for the first ever Pro Ponies Mini Major on Saturday night – this was a great hit, and thank you to everyone who stayed on at the showground to watch. In the showing, it was lovely to see Minella Rebellion lift the Tattersalls RoR Ridden Show Series Open Final after being reserve twice, and what an honour to see the former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Native River take the top spot in the Amateur Final. Often it's horses who didn't achieve much on the track that go on to have careers in top level showing, but with Native River you have a horse that has excelled in both his first career and now a second one.
We’re now wondering whether Agria Hunter Champions Will Morton and Kilcarna Brilliant can do a double of doubles – having won at both the Derby Meeting and the Royal International last year, they’re half way to doing the same this year. And if you missed it, check out this remarkable story of a show producer who enjoyed his first International Arena win since losing a leg in a riding accident.
So there we have it – the 2024 Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby saw a new record, perfect weather, bumper crowds and so many great stories. It’s making us excited for 2025 already.
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