Success stories My Eventing Superstars - by Harriet Colderick

Watergate Bay was previously trained by Paul Nicholls, owned by Graham Roach and then Chris Gordon and I now event him at BE Intermediate level. He raced for my family before I retrained him myself and feel we have a very special connection. He is certainly quirky and wasn't the easiest to retrain, he is sharp and his party trick is rearing.

We actually contemplated sending him back Point to Pointing a few months into his retraining, however we stuck at it because we knew he was a very talented horse. Through patience and time I have really got to know him, understand his quirks and how best to manage him.

Since then, we haven't looked back and he has now amassed 62 BE points, placed at Intermediate level and finished 8th in our first CIC3*S last year. He was also the RoR Elite Eventing Champion in 2018 and finished 3rd at Gatcombe in the RoR/NTF Retrained Racehorse Eventing Championship in 2019.

He gives me the feeling he trusts me implicitly and tries his hardest to get through those flags for me, leave the poles up and perform the dressage movements to the best of his ability. The key was managing his sharpness and using it in a positive way. He doesn't have the perfect style, he raced until he was 8 years old but he tries his heart out for me and I can't ask for more than that.

As well as Watergate Bay, I also event dual Cheltenham Festival winner Champagne Fever. Who is currently eventing at BE100 and is one of the best cross country horses I have ever ridden.

I am so lucky and proud to have two wonderful former racehorses and I look forward to many more years eventing them.