MIKEY Pender added yet another winning performance to finish an incredible year on a high when sharing the Cayenne Puissance at the five-star London Olympia Horse Show in Britain.

Riding Paul van den Bosch’s magnificent 12-year-old Hearton du Bois Halleux, he shared the top prize with Britain’s William Whitaker after five rounds of clear jumping on his Olympia debut.

The 20-year-old becomes the first rider to win the Hickstead Derby and the Olympia Puissance in the same year. He made history in June when becoming the youngest winner of the Hickstead Derby, just 19 at the time.

The combination were one of three through to the fifth and final round of the competition and cleared the famously imposing wall at 7ft 2in alongside Whitaker. Last year’s joint winner, Guy Williams on the big grey Mr Blue Sky UK, knocked a brick out of the wall on his final attempt.

Speaking afterwards, Pender said: “Yeah, it was fun. It’s my first time here at Olympia. The horse jumped amazing. He is such a brave horse, so much scope.

“He jumped it easy, I felt his last two rounds were the best. In the beginning he was a little bit tense but, as I got into it, he relaxed more and everything got easier for him.”

Whitaker’s result was all the more impressive as it was a first Puissance for Rushy Marsh Farm LLC’s 10-year-old RMF Charly. “I was a bit apprehensive, but the crowd lifts you and it feels as if you have another person on your back,” said the elated rider.