01/09/2026
The Unicorn And His Girl's racing victory!
Our team don't race for rosettes usually, sometimes the event will have a generic rosette awarded at the end of the day, which is a wonderful memento from a fabulous weekend of racing. The team showcase one flat race, followed by two jump race heats with the top three going through to the final jump race. But at Wellington International Horse Trials they had rosettes for us that had placings on them, and this was the one race of the day, out of 6, that the rosettes were allocated for! Verity had her heart set on the red one, and by the looks of it, Blue wasn't settling for a blue one either!
The races that each combination do chops and changes a little as to what we put our jockey and Sheltand forward for, with the more inexperienced jockeys, and/or ponies primarily making up the flat racing team. Verity and Blue have spent the season generally doing the flat race and one jump race, on the odd occasion they have placed in the top three of their jump race heat, getting through to the final jump race, which will then alter their afternoon's racing accordingly, although the little chap sure is rather fit currently!
On Sunday afternoon we opted for just the flat racing as he came out a little slow for the jump race in the morning, but he sure had us all fooled! He came off the start line in fine form and then held a good line in the thick of it at the front of the race. His luck really turned when the leading pony had some cheeky Shetland thoughts and tried to duck out where the other ponies were waiting, in true Shetland style, convincing the other pony to join the fun, well ridden which you don't see on the film but both jockeys got back in the race promptly and pushed on catching up with Bluey. And then a stray dog entered the area at the crucial moment of turning for the centre line, Blue was rock solid as he is so used to hacking with Ozzie running around him, but you can hear the slight panic in my voice as I'm worried if she pulls up for the dog that she would be pulling up right where 5 other ponies are set to come galloping through!!
Blue is one of the smallest on the team, Verity is one of the youngest on the team, but sometimes it isn't about how fast you can run or how much knowledge you have, it just comes down to partnership. Verity knew Blue would hold straight for her when the others ducked out, she knew he'd hold steady with the dog chasing them, she put her trust in her unicorn and he got her over the line to claim that red rosette.
One year ago she did her first race at this event, she gained the 6th place on Presto from the flat race. He was a much easier pony than Blue, and bigger too, but she has put the work in to get Blue on the track, and a year later she took home the red rosette!
