BY claiming the Harness Horse or Pony of the Year title at this year’s Horse of the Year show, Richard Lanni’s magnificent pair of Warmbloods impressed no less than they did at the Royal Highland in June when they qualified for the Birmingham finals.

Matching stride for stride throughout their performance, not only did they record the first victory for a pair in this class for 15 years but they also knocked out one of the class favourites, the Hackney single, Aghaderg Stand and Deliver, which had been top during the previous two years.

A former chairman of the British Driving Society, Richard Lanni normally drives the pair as part of a team based at Biggarshiels, near Biggar, with driving professional, Andrew May. The pair recorded their sixth championships out of six starts this season, with HOYS their biggest challenge.

The close confines of the Andrews Bowen International Arena posed few problems for Symen and Vinny, who went with great style and balance throughout to clinch the championship.

Although failing to feature in the hunter championship, Andrew and Mary Bowie, from Kinross, had much to celebrate when their middleweight 11- year-old, Potter’s Ace, returned to HOYS for the sixth consecutive year to take his class and middleweight title which he previously won in 2012, when he stood overall reserve.

Produced from the in-form Hood yard, in Suffolk, and ridden by Oliver Hood, Ace qualified this time at the Hickstead Derby Meeting, a happy hunting ground for the bay as he previously stood reserve champion there at the Royal International Horse Show.

With an unexpected victory this time, retirement beckons to a new career, possibly in the dressage world where, with his wonderful paces, he should continue to do well.

Scottish victory didn’t rest there, with Maureen Hamilton’s Highland Show champion, Annaghmore Huntsman, produced by Kirstine Douglas, gaining second place and in third, the Scottish-bred newcomer, Romanno Royale.

A former Cuddy champion at the show for Martin Wood and still only a four year old, Royale made a ridden debut at HOYS a memorable one for rider, Simon Charlesworth.

As reported in a recent edition of The Scottish Farmer, these weren’t the only victories recorded for Scotland in the International Arena.

With the Eglinton Pony Club Team side-lined from Sunday’s Prince Philip Cup Finals, it fell to the heavy horses to fly the flag when Scottish exhibitors filled the top two places.

For showing geeks like me, the judges’ mark sheets for this class make interesting reading, as the result was obviously a close thing as the top six horses were separated by only two marks.

The eventual winners, Virginia Osborne and her Clydesdale gelding, Kinclune Danny Boy, had a disappointing initial draw despite going as well as any of the 10 qualifiers during the initial go-round.

With fifth top ride mark from Richard Mills and third top conformation mark from Ronnie Black, the combination still managed to come to the top as others fell by the wayside on individual marks.

With three competitors sitting on second highest marks, it fell to the conformation mark to determine the next three placings.

Runner-up for this initial running of British Heavy Horse of the Year title was the Suffolk Punch mare, Eyke Diamond, ridden by Richard Telford and owned by Bill Ireland, better known for his Dales ponies.

Amidst the other activities in the main arena, it came as a surprise to see the familiar face of champion vaulter, Hannah Eccles, adopt a different role to that she last played centre stage at HOYS when, as a member of the Wee County Vaulting Team, she performed daily in front of a packed arena.

This time in her role as recently appointed HOYS Ambassador, she had the honour of awarding show jumping ribbons to winners of the Speed Horse of the Year rider, Shane Breen.

It seems that Hannah had a great time throughout the event when she took over the HOYS social media sites for the week both writing a blog and posting videos.

According to Hannah, she saw a totally different side to the ‘World’s Greatest Horse Show’ and marvelled at the love for it the volunteers demonstrated as well as the friendliness they showed towards her and no wonder as there are plenty of fellow Scots working behind the scenes.

As well as newcomer to the main arena collecting ring, Borders commentator, Robert Hogarth, I noticed SNEC manager and BS course builder, George Blackie, working as part of the show services team.

His son, Craig, has the unenviable task of music controller for the revamped TopSpec Arena which hosts a full programme of showing classes throughout the week as well as the occasional displays such as The Showing Register Master Class, where Jo Jack rode and Erik Mackechnie led an informative session along with Russell Guire on bio-mechanics.

There is so much more to this end-of-season feast of equestrian competition than just showjumping and showing, with entertainment a high priority for the family.

This year, the Grandstand Media organisers pulled out all the stops including a show-stopping performance on Sunday night of the stage musical hit, Mamma Mia, which was appearing for the first time outside London.

Throughout the week, another first for Britain, was a debut HOYS appearance for Frenchman, Gilles Fortier, with his troop of horsemen and women with a specially choreographed performance for the show.

Entitled ‘Vulcanium – Dreams of Fire’, their performance brought together great equestrian skill as well as theatrical artistry with a dramatic pyrotechnical element.

However, they were no more impressive and certainly no more well received than the great tradition that is the Heavy Horse Musical Drive which returned to HOYS this year by popular demand.

Consisting of six pairs of heavy horses (this year three each of Shires and Clydesdales – the latter courtesy of Messrs Brewster, Tennant and Ramsay), it was introduced to the first show when it was staged at Harringay in 1948 as a practical means of harrowing the arena between competitions.

Soon music was added, followed by carefully choreographed movements, to add interest for the crowd including the famous cart-wheel manoeuvre which remains central to the performance today.

Due to logistical difficulties staging it, it was last seen at Wembley in 1999 but saw a comeback in 2008 for the show’s jubilee year.

This year had one significant change when the harrows had to be covered up in order to prevent damage to the technically precious artificial surface.

There can be few more impressive sights than these mighty work horses and, judging by the reaction of this year’s audiences, it was the stand-out performance of the show for me and many others.