Hugh Miles found paradise under the campdraft lights when Oaks River Queen wowed the judges for the second time on Sunday night to become the 2013 Bayer Champion of Champions.
Hugh and his Australian Stock Horse, Oaks River Queen (Vienna Declarations [TB] x Cedar Downs Miss Playgirl [MB] x Docs Freckles Oak [IMP]) were the last of the 9 event champions, to enter the ring and received scores of 92 & 94.
“I knew I had to have a big score to go round the one that was in the lead but really, I just knew that I had to not stuff it up. It’s a shoot out thing; you’ve got to go for the biggest score you can – there’s no holding back,” Hugh said. “It means a lot to win this because you’re competing against all the horses and there’s been thousands of runs over the weekend.”
Paying out $400,000 in prize money and trophies, the five-day Commonwealth Bank Paradise Lagoons Campdraft is the world’s richest draft. It attracted more than 3,700 entries. To qualify for the Champion Of Champions, Oaks River Queen won the Evans & Hearn Supergirl Draft – a mares’ only campdraft that had 364 entries. In that event they earned a score of 180.
“She’s always been pretty special to me. This confirms that I haven’t been crazy all this time thinking that she is good,” Hugh said of the mare who has previously won open drafts. “She’s always been good but sometimes you doubt whether they’re as good as you think they are so for her to go out and do it in front of all these people was good.”
Bred and raised at his home ‘Peelvale’, Tamworth, New South Wales, Hugh believes the 11-year-old mare deserves her time in the spotlight.
“She’s always been my best horse. This is a good feather in her cap and she deserves it. She’s been such a natural at chasing cattle. She’s been a good yard mare but it’s taken her a few years to get as good as what she is, she was a bit slow at the start but she’s always been a good horse,” Hugh said. “I did all that hard work on her years ago and now you just enjoy what you did when they were 3 and 4 years old – the work they have when they’re young is what they remember forever.”
Reserve champions with scores of 90 and 92 were Double Your Money and Jon Templeton. They earned their spot in the Champion of Champions by winning the Greenup/Eidsvold Station Challenge – a three phase competition that includes dry work, two-handed cutting and campdrafting.
You can view Hugh Miles and Oaks River Queen’s winning run and that of second place getters Jon Templeton and Double Your Money at eHorseTrainer.com (Scroll down to the bottom of the page).
Many thanks to eHorseTrainer.com for allowing use their article and images.