‘What the **** just happened?!’ Gemma Stevens pips John Whitaker to win London six-bar

“What the **** just happened!?” said Gemma Stevens after she and Envoy Merelsnest Z triumphed in an all-star London International Horse Show six-bar, with last year’s winners John Whitaker and Sharid second.

Only these two of 13 starters made it to the fifth round, in which the final vertical stood at 1.95m. Gemma thought it was all over when “Dime Bar” agonisingly clipped that last fence – but then Sharid ran out twice at the second jump.

“I don’t understand!” Gemma said. “Honestly I can’t believe it. All I can say is ‘What the **** just happened’! I never thought that would happen in a million years.”

The world team gold medal-winning eventer said the stallion, owned by Brendon Stud and the Dime Bar Syndicate, had only jumped one six-bar before, at this show last year, and had not competed since August.

“He had a slightly sore joint; nothing serious, but had to have a couple of months’ walk work,” she said. “Then we brought him back, and then were invited here.”

Gemma said she was cross with herself in Wednesday’s (18 December) puissance, when she and “Dime Bar” had the wall down on the first attempt.

“I’ve only jumped a couple of 1.30m classes since the end of the [eventing] season and it’s a bit different coming down to a 1.80m wall!” she said. “I didn’t ride him right; I was so out of practice, so I was just thinking ‘Don’t mess it up again’!”

Gemma said she was delighted with the way Dime Bar jumped the last line, but thought the title was out of their reach.

“Me and John Whitaker – I was reading his book recently, he’s such a legend – so I thought ‘just don’t think about it, think about me and my horse, trying to do our best’,” she said.

“I actually thought my horse jumped really well; he didn’t touch the others, I thought it was all over but I was thrilled either way, then John had the trouble. This is honestly unbelievable.”

Gemma paid tribute to the ‘kindest, most sensitive horse you can imagine”.

“I knew he could jump a huge vertical, it’s just putting it all together,” she said. “He’s very hot, but always wants to do the right thing.”

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