Prince Philip Cup
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Visitors to Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) will have the opportunity to witness the fast and furious Pony Club Mounted Games competitions throughout the Show from Wednesday 8th – Sunday 12th October at the NEC Arena, Birmingham.
Horse of the Year Show has hosted the Pony Club Mounted Games competition since the early show days. Young riders from across the country give their all, racing against rival teams to win the historic Prince Philip Cup. The cup was donated to the Show by Prince Philip himself in 1957 when the show was held in Harringay Arena. At Prince Philip’s own request, the competition was designed for “ordinary children on ordinary ponies” and that objective has remained to the present day.
For each race, the atmosphere is electrifying as crowds cheer for their favourite team. The skill and expertise of the riders, as they vault on and off their ponies (often at high speeds), is incredible to watch.
Over 250 teams from across the country challenge for the six finalist places at HOYS each year. Qualifying rounds are held in 19 areas across the UK. The top teams from each area then go on to compete in the zone finals in July. This year see’s the first qualification of an Irish Pony Club Branch, East Down, in nearly twenty years!
Qualified Pony Club Teams for the HOYS Diamond Jubilee
- Badsworth Hunt (Yorkshire)
- Sir Watkin Williams Wynn’s Hunt (North West)
- Oakley Hunt (West) (Northern Home Counties)
- East Down (Northern Ireland)
- Cheshire Hunt North (North West)
- Banwell (Wessex)
All sixteams will compete in each session over the first three performances at HOYS. The teams are awarded points according to their placing in each round and the winner of this warm up competition will be the team finishing with the most points after Thursday afternoon’s round. This competition gives each team time to relax into the event and get some last minute practice in. The six teams then go on to compete for the Prince Philip Cup with four teams competing in each performance on a rota system, with points awarded according to placings in each of the games. The competition starts on Thursday evening and the four teams which have accumulated the most points in the competition by the end of Sunday afternoon go forward to meet in Sunday night’s prestigious final, where double points are awarded in each game.
