Early Shirley shines in winning RoR’s Elite Showjumping Performance Award

Tuesday 21 January 2020

Early Shirley shines in winning RoR’s Elite Showjumping Performance Award

On a glittering and at times emotional night at the Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) Awards on Saturday 18th January, Claudia Jones and Early Shirley collected the RoR Elite Showjumping Performance Award.

Hosted by RoR Patron Clare Balding and ITV Racing presenter Luke Harvey, the awards are in their sixth year and took place at the historic Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket. The awards showcase and celebrate the versatility of former racehorses across a range of disciplines with prizes awarded to winners in dressage, endurance, eventing, hunting, polo, showing and Showjumping. The RoR Elite Showjumping Award goes to the former racehorse that accumulates the most British Showjumping points in the year.

From Liverpool, 19-year-old Claudia said of receiving the elite award: “Winning this has finally given India (Early Shirley) the recognition she deserves and has made me realise how far we have come together against all the odds. India really is my horse of a lifetime and I will be forever grateful for everything she has helped me achieve.”

“Early Shirley, India at home, is a 10-year-old mare who has been in our family for six years. She is a former flat horse, who had her first and only outing at Hamilton Park as a 3-year- old. Having started at the back and enjoyed leisurely gallop she finished at the back, hence her short career!!

“Compared to other horses I have brought on; India was a challenge. Despite her laid-back nature, she was still very much an athlete who had been trained with one purpose in life, to race. It took months to achieve the basics such as mounting from a block and doing a controlled canter.

“Having come off a pony that refused to jump, I had no Showjumping experience at the time, so pairing a novice rider with a green 4-year-old was a huge risk but we saw just how big India’s heart was and we believed in her. We joined the Cheshire Hunt North Pony Club, where we enjoyed great success from wining our first one day event together when she was a 5-year-old, to being selected for winter league Showjumping teams.

“In 2015 we registered with British Showjumping, starting in the British Novice classes, where we jumped clear at our first show together. At this point we realised India’s talent and passion was for showjumping so we stepped away from eventing. During our first season together, we qualified for the Scope Festival where we placed in several classes. We progressed through the levels getting placed in Newcomer and Foxhunter classes. And then in 2017 we jumped our first FEI show together at The British Masters where we jumped clear to finish fifth in the Amateur Grand Prix.

“Since then we have had the opportunity to jump at shows such as Hickstead, Bolesworth International and my favorite show of the year, being my home city, The Liverpool International Horse Show.

“We have had a successful year together from qualifying for the National Amateur Championships to achieving two top ten finishes in the amateur series at The Bolesworth Young Horse Championships back in August.

“When we bought India we were told by a lot of people that we had made a huge mistake buying an ex-racehorse but time and time again India continues to exceed everyone’s expectations and has made people eat their words.”

Caption: Claudia Jones, owner rider of Early Shirley, accepting the RoR Elite Showjumping Performance Award from Luke Harvey at the RoR Awards on Saturday 18th January 2020.

 
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