Guy Williams on flying form at Hickstead

Guy Williams has won the Derby Tankard at Hickstead, following a scorching round with his ever-reliable Depardieu Van T Kiezelhof.

Pony Club kick

The jump-off was a whole class in itself, with 19 combinations going clear in the first round.

Guy set the standard early on riding ‘Zac’. He gave the grey gelding a good-old Pony Club kick to the last, taking a flyer to break the beam in a time of 41.97sec.

No-one could come close to his fast time, until Ireland’s Shane Breen – who is based at Hickstead – came in with Farao Van T Vennehof. It looked like he might just beat Guy, but was 0.38sec slower to take second place.

Speed merchants

“He’s a big jumper in big rings and he can cover the ground,” Guy told H&C. “He’s going really well lately. I saved him a bit and brought him here to try and win something and luckily he’s done it on the first day, so I’m really pleased with him.”

The two speed merchants left the rest of the field trailing in their wake, with Julie Andrews in third place riding Wilando B (46.33sec) and Louise Pavitt and Unex Chamberlain Z fourth (46.96.sec).

‘Try my best’

Guy, who is visiting his “favourite show” from his new home in France clearly wants to make the most of his time at Hickstead. He’s got three in the Derby Trial – Basic, Skip Two Ramiro and Zac – and then will compete Skippy and Zac in the Derby. He’s says he also hopes to win the Speed Trial with Casper de Muze.

Guy won the Derby in 2010 with Skippy, who is now 19 years old. So can he win it a second time? “I’m going to try my best, and hopefully I’ll go well,” said Guy.