Emotional Breen ends long wait for Hickstead prize

By Ella Toney

Shane Breen proved that all good things really do come to those who wait as he finally captured the Al Shira’aa Derby at Hickstead.

For nearly two decades he's been trying to win but has never quite got across the line; he watched with a mixture of pride and just a bit of jealously as brother Trevor claimed the prize in 2014 and 2015.

In 2005 he tied for third with future wife Chloe Bunn, the daughter of Hickstead founder Douglas Bunn, and more top threes then followed.

In 2019 he became only the 64th man to complete a clear round on the fabled course, which includes the iconic 10ft 6in bank created by his father-in-law. However, he went on to lose in a jump off with fellow Irishman Michael Pender.

He admitted he's spent three years sweating on that defeat, the Derby not being staged in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

However, a faultless round on Can Ya Makan - the only clear round of the 21 starters - secured him the British show jumping showpiece he thought would remain elusive.

And he nearly forced a jump off with himself as other charge Golden Hawk went close to clear round to earn Breen a tie of second, alongside former Irish world champion Dermott Lennon, Brazil's Carlos Eduardo Mota Ribas and Great Britain's Harriet Biddick.

Biddick might just take some consolation from Breen's patient wait for success, she's now a five-time runner up on the course.

"I never normally feel pressure but I was actually getting a bit anxious, because everyone kept saying ‘It’s your year!’, I'd say, ‘It’s been my year for the last 15 years’," said Breen.

"I feel quite emotional but it was finally my day. I live here and walk around this show ground every day, it's nice to just get a moment in this arena."

Elsewhere, John Crippen won the Doney Championship on Bennys Kelly, a happy ending to a difficult few months for his family.

“We’ve had a tough year, so it’s very nice to do this,” he said.

“Last year I’d fallen off this horse; he tripped, and I thought I’d broken my back. Then my wife went into labour, and it all went wrong due to Covid, and the doctor gave our baby no chance of living. At one point I thought they both might not make it through the night."

Crippen now has a Hickstead prize to take home to wife Briony, his partner at their Buckinghamshire yard, and children Chloe and Frankie.