Uncatchable Sammie-Jo Coffin crowned Speed Horse of the Year
Sunday 12 October 2025
Sammie-Jo Coffin and Cornet of Follyfoot set a scorching pace that none of her rivals could match to be crowned Speed Horse of the Year at Horse of the Year Show.
Drawn first to go of 27 starters, the Cornwall-based rider produced an immaculate round in 62.13 seconds and then had to endure a long waiting game as one by one her challengers came up short.
Robert Whitaker and Strike A Pose went closest, finishing 53 hundredths of a second behind, with last year's winner Rachel Proudley taking third aboard Guess Du Mont.
"I think you just try to go as fast as you can," said Sammie-Jo. "I thought the last three would catch me, but they didn't and it worked out. I just did everything I could.
"It was a long way round. There was a lot to do, with lots of different questions."
Any fence down meant that three seconds were added to the time, and she added: "You just couldn't take your foot off the throttle at all.
"If someone has a pole down they can still catch you, so you just keep going. We did that, and the horse kept answering every question."
Sammie-Jo lavished praise on Cornet of Follyfoot after the eight-year-old bay gelding underlined what a talent he is.
"He is just one in a million," she said. "I got the ride last year, and he has been unreal.
"He won here as a six-year-old in the Newcomers, so he has always been a really good horse. He just wants to do the job, and that was brilliant today.
"It is like nothing else here. I love the big grass arenas - that's how I ride - but it has been incredible here. I have had an amazing week."
Image: 1st Class Images
