Heading to Europe at 18, Australian show jumping talent Jake Hunter tried not to think too much about the daunting move – otherwise he would have talked himself out of it.

“I was never much good
at anything else!”

Over the past six years, Jake Hunter, our highest ranked under-25 rider, has surrounded himself with some of the best in the sport and is ticking off goals in Europe — including a recent debut on the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) circuit.

Jake grew up over 16,000km away from his current base in Belgium, in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, where he began riding as early as he can remember and as a kid travelled to shows nearly every weekend. “I grew up around horses and they have been part of my life since before I was even born. My mother was a very successful rider herself,” says Jake, referring to Australian jumping legend, Gail Hunter (nee Powell), who competed at World Cup level and was Australian Champion in the 1990s.

Jake names his mother as his biggest equestrian mentor and primary coach growing up, and he isn’t her only successful student — 2018 World Equestrian Games competitor Rowan Willis is one of many who have gone on to have very successful careers following her tutelage.

Jake began competing at age seven and had many good horses and ponies. “I’m lucky I had great horses as a kid. My earliest memories of real competitions are with Imperial Express (aka Otto). He was a horse that I had a lot of fun with and I guess made me fall in love with the competition side of things.”

With younger brother Cade in the saddle as well, Jake had every reason to enjoy a childhood around horses. Cade remains a very competitive rider in his own right, and is currently competing in Young Rider classes in Australia. Since Jake’s departure to Europe six years ago, Cade has continued with some of the family’s younger horses they bred. “He’s had a lot of success and is doing a really good job with them,” says Jake.

YOUTHFUL DRIVE

During his school years, Jake says he knew he always wanted a career with horses. “I never really had much interest in doing anything else. Also, I was never much good at anything else!” he laughs. As a young rider, Jake enjoyed much success and even competed internationally. In 2008 at age 12 he contested the FEI World Children’s Jumping Final (for riders under 17) in Bogota, Colombia, where he was one of the youngest competitors. It made him the youngest Australian ever to represent the country in show jumping. Gaining a first and third placing, he was ranked ninth overall.

In 2011, Jake was the Champion Junior Show Jumping Rider at both Melbourne and Sydney Royal Shows with thoroughbred Midnight Rock, aka King — with the Sydney accolade becoming a family tradition, later being collected three times by Cade. The following year, Jake and King won the Australian Junior Show Jumping Champion title, following in the footsteps of his mother, who was the inaugural Junior Champion exactly 30 years earlier in 1982. A super horse, King went on to partner with Cade around the young rider circuit.

Two years later, Jake again stepped out on the world stage at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, and brought home a bronze medal in the Individual Show Jumping event riding a seven-year-old mare named For The Star — a moment that remains one of his career highlights, and set the wheels in motion for a career abroad.

OFF TO EUROPE

Jake appreciates that competing in Colombia and China were fantastic opportunities, and he feels that the taste of international competition early on gave him the ambition to train and compete on the world stage. “I was also lucky enough to meet Michael G. Duffy in Nanjing,” says Jake. Another young, ambitious rider, Michael is the son of Vinnie Duffy, who heads Duffy Sporthorses in County Mayo, Ireland. Michael asked Jake if he’d like to come to Ireland and work for his father. Still in school, Jake didn’t think much more about it, but a few weeks later when he was back home in Australia, the phone rang; it was Michael asking whether Jake had booked his flight yet.

“Michael convinced me to move to Europe and work for his father. I finished school on a Friday and headed to Ireland the following Monday. The rest is history,” recalls Jake. He says moving to Ireland when he was just 18 was daunting, and he coped with the big move by not thinking too much about it at the time.

“If I did I would have talked myself out of it! I didn’t really know what to expect,” he says. “I was lucky to be with the Duffy family (Vinnie, Sandra, and two of their sons, Alex and Michael) who really looked after me and made me feel like another family member. I think if I went to a different place or situation I may not have been able to do it. They stuck with me through good and bad days and gave me the tools to be able to have a long career in the industry. For that, I’ll be forever grateful.”

During his time at Duffy Sporthorses, Jake was afforded plenty of competition experience, riding at international level in Young Rider, Young Horse and Grand Prix classes. His four years there saw him achieve his first international win in a CSI2* International Speed and Power class at Balmoral, riding Robinstown Lux Lovely. According to the Balmoral Show Society, this was the first international class won by an Australian at the show! A CSI4* win soon followed. Jake’s time in Ireland included, among other highlights, an entry ticket to the CSI5* Dublin International Horse Show in 2016; he contested the Young Rider classes for six and seven-year-old horses, finishing first and third with his two rides.

COMPETITION EXPERIENCE

Competing in Ireland and with access to all the big European competitions allowed Jake to jump alongside top riders virtually every week — something that’s simply not possible in Australia because of the limited number of major shows and the vast distances between them. He feels this competition experience has held him in good stead for big atmosphere events such as the LGCT.

Following his time at Duffy Sporthorses, Jake moved to Waldman Horses in the Netherlands early in 2019, where he rode under the watchful eye of renowned American breeder, dealer and trainer Alan Waldman. “Alan is a great guy. I learnt a lot about the business, breeding and the production and management of younger horses. I also got some great experience riding at some of the bigger shows in Europe,” he says.

Not just a keen competitor, Jake’s experiences in Europe — in particular with Alan — also sparked his interest in the business side of the sport: “I like the business side; it’s very rewarding when it is done correctly and it is my goal to have a business side by side with the sport. I also really like helping people find horses. It can be difficult in Europe sometimes to find the right horses from the right people. I have a very good network of colleagues that I really trust so it’s nice to be able to help people find the right equine partner.”

Jake’s time at Waldman Horses also led to him getting the ride on a very special mare by the name of Jativia, by Cardento 933 out of Tativia (Gottwald). The Belgian Sporthorse, bred in 2009 by Dannu Mortier, was formerly ridden by Alan’s wife, American-Israeli Danielle ‘Dani’ Goldstein Waldman; Jake now part-owns the mare with Dani, and has taken over the reins. “Jativia is a great horse, I have a fantastic partnership with her. She’s a real competitor and loves her job. I’m very lucky to be able to ride her and am really grateful to Dani and Alan for the opportunity.”

From Ireland to the Netherlands and now to Belgium, Jake is currently based at Patrick Vandereyt’s ‘Beeckhof’ in Dilsen Stokkem and trains with Patrick, as well as Alex Duffy and Jonna Ekberg. Training with Alex isn’t his only continuing connection to the Duffy family, with Jake explaining that he has a very good seven-year-old that he owns in partnership with Martin Duffy (the eldest son of Vinnie and Sandra Duffy, who runs his own stables in Ireland) that he’s very excited about. “I also ride a very special six-year-old mare by Carerra VDL who I partly own with Alan (Waldman),” Jake explains.

THE PRESENT & BEYOND

Now having been in Europe for nearly six years, Jake says the hardest thing — besides trading in the Aussie climate for European winters — is missing friends and family, and this has been amplified by the pandemic. “It is difficult, of course. I was lucky my mother came to visit in Holland just before the virus. So that was nice.” However, like many riders, Jake has enjoyed some aspects of the pandemic, such as the break in competition last year allowing him to spend more time focusing on training his team.

Early in June, Jake and Jativia competed at Poznań CSI4* in Poland, finishing a very competitive seventh place in the Grand Prix. They jumped clear around the 1.60m track to make the 13-horse jump-off, and with just one rail down and a very quick time they produced a great result.

This paved the way for a debut on the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) during the Stockholm leg towards the end of the month. Stockholm’s historic Olympic Stadium has a strong heritage in equestrian sport dating back over 100 years, with the venue hosting the 1990 World Equestrian Games, as well as the 1912 and 1956 Olympics — the latter giving rise to Australia’s very first Olympic equestrian team. For Jake, it was a surreal moment riding out onto the arena for the first time. He and Jativia contested three CSI5* classes against some of the best in the business, having just one rail down in the 1.45m class and a couple of rails in the 1.55m and 1.60m classes. While they weren’t the clear rounds he was hoping for, it was a solid start to the “big time” league, where just getting a start is an achievement in itself, and the quality of horse and rider — not to mention the prizemoney — is next level.

While Jake ticked a big goal off the list debuting in the LGCT, there are even bigger goals on the horizon. “Next year we will aim for the World Equestrian Games in Herning, Denmark. I think Jativia has the making of a horse that could do really well. Our partnership has really come on a long way and she’s in fantastic form and health.”

For other young Aussie riders thinking of taking the leap and moving overseas to train and compete, Jake says persistence is key — that, and finding a great team. “I think the best advice is to keep working at it. Surround yourself with good people; I think that is the most important thing. This is where I’ve been really lucky, to always have really great people around.” EQ

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