Sun glorious sun, all day long. Thank goodness for the tree-lined arena at Bicton, where chairs and picnic tables sprouted like fast growing weeds.
There were five rings in fact, but from the main ring, you could actually see two other classes running concurrently.

SHAFEEQ

8.30am sharp, and the pure bred colts showed their style. The winner here, and Junior Champion, was Shafeeq by Kerim Shah out of Fflirtation, bred by Miss G Allen and owned by Mr. A Al-Jaffery. Reserve Junior Colt was the stunning black 3 year colt winner, CAS Rhapsody in Black, by R Ali Bey out of Bur Sable, bred by H. Birdsall, and owned by S. Hall.

The yearling fillies followed on. This was a good, well filled class of beautiful fillies. There is always one horse at a show that stands out, and certainly one filly did. Grace by name and graceful in every sense. Bright bay, and of the highest quality, she floated around the ring and won everything before her. Amazingly this was her first show. Grace is by Ventican out of Garnet. A stunning mare with exceptional movement herself. Grace was bred by Lisa Kelly and is owned by her too. She won her class, became Junior Female Champion, and then became Overall Champion of the show!! Sue Richards and Lisa Kelly jointly owned the veteran mare winner, Pilonia - by Ernal out of Pieszczota.

GRACE

Mr. Mrs. J Adkins had a good day in Devon. Their 3 year old filly Haleika, again by Kerim Shah, had a 1st, and the very beautiful Michalow import Ermina, by Gadir out of Erwina came 1st in the barren mare class. This mare class was huge, with 17 entries full of quality. Ermina, went on to be Senior Female Champion. Reserve in the Senior Mare Championship was the feminine Nala, by Arazi out of Pearl Queen. Bred by A Whatley and owned by Mr. & Mrs. Murphy.

CHI LIN PHEANORA

Winner of the always difficult to judge foal class, was the very correct Chi Lin Pheanora, by Lyndham Tarac out of Pleaides. Owned and bred by Suyen Talken-Sinclair.

The purebred stallion class is always well filled, and the entries here were all good moving horses. All were capable of being dual purpose, and each had his own charisma. The winner being Edeon, by Eldon out of Emigranka, bred by Michalow and owned by Miss P Lindsay. Edeon became Senior Male Champion and Reserve Overall Champion. Reserve Male Champion and 2nd in this stallion class, was Suyen Talken-Sinclairs Lyndham Tarac. He is by Rumak out of Tabashir. The favorite veteran stallion class came next. The winner, Elist, by Balon out of Elewacja, who looked absolutely stunning, was a mere youngster at 17 years old. And then there was Hawk Moth! By Argos out of Sapphire Blue, he is a grand old man of 30 years! Michael Harris brought Hawk Moth into the ring, with the crowds cheering him on. It was a difficult decision for the judge to make. Glad it wasn't me!	ELIST
The gelding championship winner was the very attractive Shayla's Attraction, by Ffatal Attraction, bred by Mrs. D Calvert and owned by Mr. & Mrs. Howell. The gelding class was huge, and of very good quality. I think that it really is about time show secretaries put the in-hand geldings, into the main ring at shows. The quality is so outstanding now. This class actually overflowed into the main ring. The main ring was in fact empty at the time! Didn't this same thing happen at our national show last year?

SWEET DREAMS

In-hand Anglo & Part Breds were well supported. The Overall Champion being the very elegant Cranleigh Shades of Arden, by Cranleigh Arden Shadow out of Rosslyn Dominique, this lovely filly was bred and owned by Miss M Pollard. Reserve Champion was Sweet Dream, a striking bay mare bred by Lyn Lidbury, and owned by Mrs. Golombeck. Daughter Hannah ably showed her. Sweet Dream came back to woo us in the Ridden Anglo and Part Bred Cherif Qualifier, she won this class and became Champion Anglo and Part Bred . Reserve Champion went to Kalila Spring, a Blue Lucious Daughter owned by Mrs. D Batten. The Amateur classes are an important part of the Bicton Show, they are always very well supported. There are in fact four separate classes resulting in a Champion, Sweet Dream and Hannah Golombeck became that Champion, with Reserve being Shaq, handled by Tracy Wainwright.

The Pure Bred Ridden classes were well filled as usual. The Hoys classes, all three, resulted in the overall Champion under saddle, Majeed, by Rusleem, he looked so very comfortable I could have taken him home! Owned and ridden by Mandy Burr. Reserve Ridden Champion came from the Novice Mare class, WW Nasadika, by Simeon Sadik out of one of my favorite mares, Nebula. Ridden by Clare Fitch, bred and owned by Mrs. Mann Wernsten, who lives abroad. There were 13 ridden classes, they started at 8.30 in the morning, they each had an average of 12 entries, it was hot, humid, and by the afternoon quite unpleasant, please do not complain about ridden judges!

MAJEED

Now I shall be in deep trouble, but, considering Bicton Show clashed with Fontwell, I thought it was WONDERFUL. The only classes that were a bit light on the ground were the Pure bred colts in-hand, but this is the norm at present. The atmosphere at this show was just like a huge party. I had the opportunity to wander around the rings, taking photos! and I noticed that everyone, really everyone, was laughing or smiling, even when they were at the bottom of the line. It reminded me of years ago when we used to go to shows for ourselves, and it didn't matter what colour your rosette was. When I developed the photographs, and spread them out on the kitchen table, all the smiling faces showed how the day had been such a success. Fontwell where's Fontwell?

Please note, Bicton is booked for the same weekend in 2004

Show Report and Photos by SUE BUNDY
"click here to see more photos from the show "