Star names enjoy jockeys’ challenge with a difference in support of the IJF

PA Sport Reporters
December 19, 2023 2:38 pm

‘It’s been a sobering few weeks for everyone involved in the sport’.

An all-star team led by Ryan Moore, who was last week crowned Longines World’s Best Jockey for the fourth year in a row, won the Markel Jockeys Jumping in aid of the Injured Jockeys Fund on Monday evening.

The event is held at the London International Horse Show, formerly known as Olympia, and sees two teams of jockeys take on a course of show jumps against the clock with the fastest collective time winning.

Moore’s team, consisting of Tom Scudamore, Joanna Mason, Sam Twiston-Davies and Harry Skelton – son of Olympic gold medallist, Nick – completed the course in a cumulative time of 124.28 seconds.

Moore’s rivals were led by 20-time champion National Hunt jockey Sir Anthony McCoy and also featured former champion Flat jockey Jim Crowley, Harry Cobden, Lilly Pinchin and Kielan Woods.

Two equestrian champions provided their invaluable expertise as team coaches in Pippa Funnell and Nick Skelton – both Olympians – and it was a tightly-contested battle with just eight seconds between the two teams.

Thank you very much to @LondonHorseShow for having us last night. It was a privilege to take part in the Markels Jockeys Jumping to help raise money for the @IJF_official .

And a very special Thankyou to @hollysmithsj for lending me Lorenzo for the evening ✈️ pic.twitter.com/09EzsOmuWm
— Sam Twiston-Davies (@samtwiston) December 19, 2023

The contest benefits the IJF, which has been established for 60 years and provides much needed help to injured jockeys and their families.

While his team mates and rivals were aboard experienced showjumpers, Scudamore partnered a horse more familiar to him in the former steeplechaser Kingswell Theatre.

Trained by the rider’s brother, Michael, Kingswell Theatre won seven races and enjoyed the finest moments of his career around the cross-country course at Cheltenham.

In 2017 he won the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase at the track’s November meeting and in 2020 he returned to the same contest to score by five lengths.

Now 14, the gelding has been retired from racing since 2021 and turned his hoof successfully to a new discipline when jumping a clear round under the lights at the ExCeL arena – a challenging atmosphere for any horse.

Kingswell Theatre and Tom Scudamore during the Glenfarcas Cross Country Handicap Chase (Nigel French/PA)

“He was absolutely fantastic, it was a privilege to be asked and it’s an event everyone very much enjoys,” said Scudamore.

“It was great to do it on Kingswell Theatre, he’s been such a legend in our family and he certainly didn’t let anyone down.

“It was a big ask of him because though he’s done lots of different things, he hasn’t done much showjumping. He wouldn’t have done nearly as much as the other horses because they were all proper showjumpers.

“To go and do what he did just shows you what a wonderful individual he is, he is pretty unique.

“The atmosphere was the one thing I was worried about but he loved it, whenever there’s people clapping he thinks it’s for him and he loves the attention.”

The work of the IJF has been in the spotlight in recent weeks since the serious spinal injury suffered by Grand National and Group One-winning jockey Graham Lee at Newcastle in November.

Scudamore added: “It is a special event every year, but this time it really resonated as we’re all thinking of Graham Lee and his family. It’s been a sobering few weeks for everyone involved in the sport, so it feels more important than ever to support the IJF.”