Darling Daphne bucks the trend…
KBF Crescendo, ridden and produced by Jayne Ross, made history at The Royal International Horse show this year after being crowned overall supreme ridden coloured champion and becoming the first coloured horse to take the ladies’ hunter championship all in the same week!
9-year-old Daphne, as she is affectionately known is by Free Spirit and owned and bred by Tony Reynolds and Michael Cook. Tony said “This is the second time she has taken the Coloured Supreme at RIHS having won previously as a 5-year-old. It’s also her first season contesting ladies’ classes and she is proving to be an amazing ride. We were ecstatic for her to win the ladies in such great company.
Jayne said “it can be difficult for a coloured horse to compete and win in hunter classes because they are a bit different. A coloured horse winning the ladies has never been done at a show of the RIHS standard and she has only been shown side saddle 4 times before! I am delighted that Daphne won both these classes. She is just a very special”
What makes Daphne stand out from the crowd?
Jayne:
As much as anything it is her personality and outlook on life. She has always got that wonderful look at me attitude and is so enthusiastic about everything.
She is a rolls Royce ride! She just sits up and almost hovers, especially side saddle. She is mannerly but with so much enthusiasm. You don’t get that very often. She gives the judges a beautiful ride and is beautifully light and responsive for a big horse. She just loves to please.
She is also well marked for a coloured – she just ticks all the boxes.
Tell us about Daphne’s personality.
Jayne:
She is an absolute joy and everybody’s favourite on the yard which is why she is known as Darling Daphne! She never puts a hoof wrong and doesn’t have to try to be nice – she is just naturally nice. She loves a fuss and people! If you walk into the field, she will be straight over to you.
She came to us a 3-year-old, rising 4 when we broke her in so I can’t imagine life without her now!
Daphne always has a best friend that she goes out with. It used to be Audrey (CSF Cummer Paradise) also owned and bred by Tony and Michael, but when Audrey went back to them to breed Daphne made a new best friend in KBF Lucia (Poppy) owned by Polly Coles. She and Poppy (another Free Spirit horse) adore each other. We call them Hinge and Bracket because they are like two old dears having a good old gossip all the time.
Daphne never minds how much primping and preening we do with her and loves a photoshoot, so she is always the one we choose for makeover sessions for our sponsors Absorbine. She never cares how long she must stand there being photographed – she just loves showing off!
Michael Cook:
Daphne has always had the most wonderful temperament right from the start, relaxed, and always smiling.
What is Daphne’s Regime?
Jayne:
She loves being out in the field, so she goes out at night with Poppy in the summer because of the flies. She hacks out a couple of times a week and has the odd play in the school, but she knows her job now, so it is just a case of keeping her happy.
She likes to go to a canter track the day before a show and have a lob around taking it all in and just generally loving life. It is much more fun than having to do any real work in the school.
She doesn’t need any working in at a show so she just goes round and has a little chat with every body and has a look see.
She used to see gremlins in her younger days and didn’t do so well in a few classes due to the sheer excitement, but she doesn’t seem to be doing that anymore.
At the end of the season, she goes back home to the Tony and Michael to their lovely stud and spends the winter with Audrey her other best mate and then comes back again at the end of January.
What are Daphne’s career highlights?
Jayne:
Daphne has competed in ridden coloured, middleweight hunter and ladies’ hunter classes this year but this season we are concentrating on coloureds and ladies. Given this is her first season competing in the ladies we are delighted with her success so far.
She has been champion middleweight hunter a couple of times in the past and last year took the title at the Stoneleigh Horse Show.
Daphne’s first taste of success came at the RIHS when she won the ridden coloured supreme champion as a 5-year-old. She also won this accolade at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2021 and was reserve there in 2017. She was reserve champion at Royal Windsor in 2022 and 2021 and champion in 2019 and 2018, so she has won the plaited horse class there four times!
Now of course this year she won the supreme ridden coloured champion at the RIHS and the ladies’ hunter championship!
What is next for Daphne?
Jayne:
We are still waiting for the big HOYS win and I truly believe she deserves it – she has been second a couple of times so always the bridesmaid but never the bride. Maybe this year; fingers crossed.
Tony and Michael will most definitely breed from her one day and our aim for her is to be the first coloured mare to win the Price Supreme In-Hand Championship at HOYS as a broodmare – some say this is arguably the hardest class to qualify for, but we just know that Darling Daphne can do it.
Michael Cook and Tony Reynolds:
Breeding can be a bit of a lottery; all you can do is try to up the odds by using the best mares and matching them to the most appropriate stallion. When you breed something like Daphne it’s very special.
The intention is to breed from Daphne eventually however, at the moment she is enjoying her showing and has formed such a partnership with Jayne. It may be a while before she is back with us in hand.
