Thoroughbred retired racehorse Grassendale Enzo is thriving in his second career in the show jumping arena, turning heads at Grand Prix level in the hands of his 16-year-old rider Sofia Williams.
A member of the Equestrian Sports New Zealand Talent ID Squad, Williams had a successful career on ponies before stepping into the hack ring, where the athletic 10-year-old has taken her swiftly through the grades up to Horse Grand Prix.
At just their second start at that level at the recent Wairarapa A&P Show, Sofia and ‘Enzo’ jumped double clear over a track ranging from 1.4m to 1.5m in height, taking the win. That victory came off the back of several top results, the pair winning the FMG Young Rider Series class at Feilding and Hawke’s Bay, the Horse 1.35m Championship at Foxton, and the FEI World Jumping Challenge round at Gisborne.
While they were in firing form coming into their local show in Masterton, the win still came as a surprise for Williams.
“It was my second Grand Prix, we’d done one the weekend before at Labour Weekend, so I was very happy,” she said. “It was very unexpected, he was just awesome, and he saved my butt a few times in the jump-off, he was amazing.
“We are playing it by air at this stage, we’d liked to try some Premier Grand Prix’s later on but he just keeps blowing us away with what he can jump.
Photo credit: Kampic
“We had aimed at the FEI class and went to Gisborne for that reason, so it was great to tick that off as well. There is another round in Auckland and one in the South Island, which we’d probably rather go to. The points go towards the qualifying for the FEI World Jumping Challenge and the Youth Olympics.”
A niece of Little Avondale Stud principals Sam and Dame Catriona Williams, Sofia is closely linked to the thoroughbred industry, but it was her mother Luce’s love for the breed that brought Enzo into their lives.
Bred by GS Racing, the son of Reliable Man and the Kaapstad mare Kaarera was passed in when offered for sale as a weanling, then subsequently raced twice in the care of Ruakaka trainers Chris Gibbs and Michelle Bradley as Boom Boom Basil.
While his racing career was short-lived, Luce saw his potential as a show jumper when scrolling through Facebook, purchasing him sight unseen as a three-year-old.
“I love thoroughbreds and would produce one per year, then sell them when they got around to that 1.10m level,” Luce Williams said. “I saw Enzo on Facebook and showed my husband, it was a photo of him jumping a log and it was out the gate - we bought him sight unseen off that photo.
“He’s really sensitive and a bit of a drama queen, but essentially that’s what makes him such a good jumper as he doesn’t like to touch them. He’s got a real character, he can be hot but then can be very quiet too.
“I knew he was very talented from the start, he has a very natural elasticity about him, and when he got to the age of five he was definitely ready to do the age-group series. I did the five, six and seven-year-old series on him, the seven-year-olds are pretty high so he was taking me places too, I’d never jumped that high before and he placed in every seven-year-old class he went in.
“We did the Pro-Amateur series that year as well which was pretty exciting, he came third in the series and third at Horse of the Year in that class.
“He was gone in the wind but we haven't operated and it certainly hasn't affected him.”
Photo credit: Corina Belliss
On Enzo’s growing list of achievements was the 2023/24 TiES Jumping Accumulator title and the Top Performed Thoroughbred at last year’s Horse of the Year. As Luce has done with many of her thoroughbreds, she had considered selling Enzo at a younger age but is delighted to now be able to share him with her daughter.
“I’m so pleased we didn’t sell him, he is so unique and very fun to ride, and very fast in jump-offs,” she said. “He is such a fun horse to be in a competition on.
“Sof was riding at Grand Prix on her ponies at that stage and was ready to do some Junior Riders, and I felt like I knew him really well, so I was happy for her to try those on Enzo.
“That started her career on him when he was eight. He is a challenging ride at times but he’s taught both of us a lot, he’s pretty special.”