Billy bags show jumping’s Grand Prix

COOROY’S own Billy Raymont has won the Sunshine Coast Show Jumping Club’s highest honour and main event, the Grand Prix, at the July Show.
More than 450 competitors enjoyed perfect conditions at the four-day event held from 22 to 25 July at the Nambour Showgrounds with riders travelling from all over the country to compete.
Billy and his horse Anton were one of 35 to tackle the Olympic-sized course designed by Kevin Hansen of New Zealand.
Only a handful of horses went clear in the first round, and only 12 made it to the exciting second round – a jump-off against the clock.
Billy and Anton came home in 57.35 seconds, a fraction ahead of NSW’s James Arkins on seasoned campaigner Da Vinci’s Pride in 58.02 seconds.
Billy’s beautiful thoroughbred Stardom was just behind them on 59.06 seconds for third place, and last year’s Qld Championship winner, NSW’s Vicki Roycroft on the outstanding Congo Z was fourth in 61.23 seconds.
One hundreth of a second separated the Raymont brothers for first and second place in the hotly contested Future Stars, a class for up-and-coming horses.
Billy won the class on Portifino, from Jamie on Ballou Alexces, while club member Courtney Ticknell did a super round with the Junior Championship on Mervyn, from Cody McKay on Sight Unseen.
The most spectacular result of the show was in the nail-biting speed class, held on Sunday night. This open age class is run over a 600m course of 1.3m jumps and was won by Hayley Morris on Miss Moneypenny.
In a field that included many of the world Cup riders, Haley was 11 seconds ahead of her nearest rival, Vicki Roycroft on Adeline Des Hayettes.