'I hate running, unless it’s after a hockey ball, and love chocolate!' - Q&A with York charity race rider Pippa Harvey

Where did your passion for horses come from?

I first started riding when I was about seven. I’m not from a typical horse-related background; my father learned to ride at Sandhurst and took this up again when he commanded the 14th Regiment at Larkhill in Wiltshire. I had a friend who had riding lessons while we were based in Germany and I asked my parents if I could start; we were posted back to the UK and my parents stuck to their promise and I started in riding schools before we then moved to Larkhill and I progressed on to riding a friend’s brother’s pony and they introduced me to the Royal Artillery Pony Club. 

At this point my parents very kindly leased me my first pony, and I’ve been loaning, borrowing, begging and stealing rides ever since, I didn’t care what it was, I just wanted to be around and ride horses. My parents traipsed around the county, they learned to tow trailers and learned everything they could about horses. My mother is very allergic to horses and probably should have taken out shares in Piriton, but she even learned to ride at one point! 

I never had the fanciest ponies or horses and didn’t buy my first until my late 20s, when I bought an ex-showjumper for £1,500 from the Isle of Man while I was staying with a friend on holiday. Frank was 17.2 hands and taught me to sit a buck; he wasn’t the easiest to deal with but on the hunting field would jump the moon for you. 

I started riding out for Francesca Poste and subsequently moved to Alex Hales, while I rode a bit for Robert Waley-Cohen. I’m now in my second season at Alex’s. Last February I was kindly offered a horse called Fagan, who was owned by the Brackenbury family and ran in the Becher Chase for the Old Stoics. At 13, he’s as fresh as he was in training and keeps me on my toes, but he’s a real class horse and will be doing some team chasing and RoR eventing classes soon.

You attended Royal Agricultural College, as it was then; what has been the journey since?

Since graduating I’ve been in various jobs with no set career in mind, from agricultural construction companies, Beaufort Polo Club, Ariat, KBIS, and I even had a dabble at selling properties. I moved to Warwickshire, where I met Bridget Gatehouse while at [Poste’s] Station Yard one day and moved into the veterinary sector. From here, I then moved to Avonvale Equine, where I work in the accounts office and take a keen interest in what’s going on in the breeding side from the thoroughbred studs we cover and any runners from our racing yards.

A year ago I was offered the opportunity to take on a weekend role at Horsequest, covering maternity leave for an old university friend. After ten months they offered me a full-time role, so every weekend you can find me on racehorses or playing hockey with my Horsequest laptop in tow.

Tell us about your time with recent breeze-up success stories Charlie and Francesca Poste . . .

I used to keep my old showjumper at Fred Hutsby’s, down the road from Station Yard, and used the Station Yard gallop, Francesca Poste (then Nimmo) asked me a few times if I wanted to come and ride out and for a while I declined, thinking I wasn’t ‘that’ mad. I then got a bit fitter, asked Fran if I could have a go and caught the bug. I’d ride out every Saturday morning and any bank holidays, and would take mornings off work just so I could ride out. It was always nice to see new horses coming in from the sales and see what they’d bought next to produce. 

Pippa Harvey: has the Poste and Hales yards in her corner as she prepares for her big dayCredit: Pippa Harvey

Charlie is brilliant with young horses and prepares them to deal with various things in the real world. I could tell when he was happy with the youngsters because I’d be put on them to take them down the old railway line and then up the gallop when they were ready. Charlie would always have a quick chat about them, so you had an idea of how best to ride them. It was great to be trusted with owners’ horses when taking horses pointing and it’s a great social atmosphere as well.

Fran and Charlie have always been forward-thinkers and their new enterprise in the breezers is showing how well they work together, and what a strong team they have behind them at home. Charlie is my jockey coach for the charity race and it’s great to keep in the loop with what the team is doing.

How is it going at the Hales yard in the build-up to the big day at York on June 15?

Alex has been a brilliant support. He took me on two seasons ago to ride out on Saturdays and I’m now in twice a week. There’s such a variety of characters in the yard, which makes it a great environment to be in. All the team have been behind me from day one in taking this challenge on. I tentatively asked Alex if he’d support me if I applied for the race and, despite jokes about me just coming off the lead rein, he was more than happy to help. 

The majority of horses are well behaved. The occasional white-knuckle moments happen; you can tell when we’re a bit nervous about something as we’ll start singing, much to Alex’s delight! I do have a few favourites but Alex is very good at rotating what I ride, so I don’t have the same horses from one week to the next – which does wonders for my riding as I can’t get complacent.

What was the motivation for applying to ride in the Macmillan charity race?

After several seasons being involved in point-to-pointing I thought I wouldn’t mind having a spin round myself, but with the financial implication of finding a horse and having one in training, it wasn’t to be. I spoke to Thomas Drewry, who’d taken part in the Macmillan Ride of their Lives a few years ago. I’d spoken about how I wanted to do something to raise funds for a cancer charity and he mentioned this race. 

Pippa Harvey's determination to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support was fuelled by family traumasCredit: Pippa Harvey

I emailed Anthea [Leigh] at York and asked if I could apply; she came back to me to say they were having a break from the race and that I could apply this year. As soon as the applications opened, I sent mine through, hoping and praying I’d get in. Macmillan helps so many people in so many different ways .My grandpop, Richard Mattson, and aunt, Andra Bishop, both passed away from cancer. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year and all this gave me the incentive to take part in this challenge and try to raise £10,000-plus for Macmillan.

How hard has the training been – and does it get easier or tougher?

It’s been hard, I hate running, unless it’s after a hockey ball, and love chocolate! I started my training with support from Russel Kelf, who is a previous ironman competitor and doesn’t take no for an answer! Russ agreed to help me as it’s a cause very close to him. Having fought cancer previously, he has been diagnosed with two types of brain cancer and Macmillan has really helped him. His fitness programme has been really tough, often with no rest days.

Working full-time and having my own horses to do while fitting in hockey and riding out, it’s been really challenging. But I want to do the best that I can on the day. I try to see Charlie every couple of weeks and will be ramping that up soon. I’ve also been going circuit training with some of the local point-to-point jockeys, held at Charlie’s and run by Conor Shoemark, Conor has also been doing some one-to-one sessions with me. With it getting closer to raceday, we’re really pushing my fitness and improving it every day. I can’t say I’m warming to the ice bath concept – but it has to be done!

You have already passed the fund-raising requirement to participate, but what’s the target and how can Racing Post readers help? 

We all needed to raise a minimum of £4,000. My aim is to raise £10,000 and hopefully exceed that. I’m raising funds via Just Giving and also running an online auction. I’ll also be at Badminton Horse Trials with Horsequest on May 11-12 with my trusty green bucket, as well as local point-to-point courses.

Pippa Harvey: 'I’m becoming more and more competitive as time goes on'Credit: Pippa Harvey

Do you know who you’re riding yet, or if not, what are the next steps and when does that get finalised?

I’m lucky to have Alex’s support and his owners’ and we do have a couple of horses lined up, but we’re waiting until nearer the time to see which it will be. We’re also wanting to keep it a bit of a surprise. I’m becoming more and more competitive as time goes on, so am keeping names under wraps for now!

Any favourite racehorses or sires/broodmares, past or present?

When I was at Cottesmore School aged around 12-13, I had the opportunity to raise money for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust and was given the chance to ride Brave Highlander. He was the first racehorse I ever sat on, so he’d have to be on the list, but I do have a real soft spot for Noble Yeats.

As far as broodmares go, I’m excited at the prospect of seeing Honeysuckle’s offspring go on and do great things. I’m a big fan of Passing Glance as a sire; he seems very versatile as a stallion – we have a few by him at Alex’s and I had an interest in a foal by him a while back, so I'm a little biased.

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