A producer has won the Royal Windsor Horse Show cob championship for the third year on the trot. This time, Will Morton piloted Rosamund’s Monarch In The Mist (Jack) to the 2026 title, repeating their 2024 feat.
“I think it was more special today than it has ever been,” said Will, who steered Bannview So Smart to the 2025 title.
Will added: “I put a lot of pressure on myself coming here for the third time, so to actually pull it off and do it three times in a row is just incredible.”
The pair had won the maxi cob class en route to the championship.
Will and the Fintan Himself gelding were also victorious at Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) last year, and were second at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
Will said: “He knows his job. He loves his job, he smiles the whole way around the ring. He loves the atmosphere. He’s a very smiley horse, so he goes in there and he just soaks it up.
“He goes,‘Look at me, I know what I’m doing’.”
Will added that he does not over-show Jack, whose next outing will be Royal Three Counties with “lots of hacking in between”.
2026 Royal Windsor cob championship reserve
Danielle Heath repeated her 2025 win aboard 12-year-old lightweight Mr Vincent, owned by Isabella Mears-Wood, before going on to take the reserve spot in the 2026 Royal Windsor cob championship.
“Being the cob championship here and getting to gallop down that front is fantastic,” Danielle said. “It’s one of the best main arenas in the country, I think.”
Also in the championship was Lisette-Marie Roberts who had her first Royal Windsor win riding her own Randalstown Aristocrat (Harry) after the pair won the amateur class.
Harry had previously been ridden by producer Jayne Ross, but Lisette took the reins herself last year and was second at HOYS.
Speaking after her initial win in the Frogmore arena, she said: “This will be my first time riding in the main arena, which is going to be thrilling. I’m really looking forward to that.”
Harry, an 11-year-old grey gelding – now based with Elliee Stunt – can get stressed at a show, his owner says, but nevertheless managed to impress ride judge Harry Moore.
“He doesn’t want to do anything wrong,” she explained. “He needs to take a breath and you see him just suddenly go, ‘Oh’, and then you’re like, ‘Right, he’s going to be good’.
“Anybody can hack him. My daughter is really nervous and she rides him. He’s just the loveliest, loveliest boy.”
Harry was also given the healthiest body condition award in his class. Lisette said that unlike most cobs, they sometimes struggle to keep enough weight on the gelding.
“I’m really pleased with that and it shows that Ellie’s doing a really good job,” she added.
In the novice cobs, Simon Reynolds came to the fore aboard Ruth Parker’s exciting six-year-old Sterling, and the heavyweight class was won by Jayne Ross astride Alan Marnie’s Horton’s Rainman.
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