Virginia Helen Antoinette Elliot MBE is a British equestrian rider who specialises in eventing. She is the 1986 World Champion and three-time Individual European Champion (1985, 1987, 1989). She also won two World team golds (1982 and 1986) and four European team golds (1981, 1985–89). A four-time Olympic medallist, she won Individual bronze and team silver in both 1984 and 1988. From 2008 to 2013, she was the manager of the Irish eventing team. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1986 Birthday Honours for services to Riding.

Virginia was born in Malta in February 1955. Her father, Ronald (Ronnie) Holgate, was a Royal Marine commando, and her mother, Heather, was a keen horsewoman. Born Virginia Holgate, she married Hamish Leng in 1985. The couple divorced in 1989, and in 1993, she married Michael Elliott. Her horses Night Cap II and Priceless were by the eventing stallion Ben Faerie. Since the 1980s, she has written several books and, in 1987, participated in Prince Edward’s charity television special, The Grand Knockout Tournament.

After military service in Cyprus and Canada, her father was posted to the Ministry of Defence in London and was allocated family accommodation in one of the three cottages that backed onto the stables at Trosley Towers and were themselves converted stables. Access was via the driveway on the other side of Trosley Hill, opposite the Vigo Inn. It was a first-floor flat which her mother described as “a big old monstrosity”. Local resident Tom Sheldon recalls that “The three cottages/houses were let to service personnel. As well as Major Holgate, there was Brigadier Armitage and one other whom I can’t remember.” [Note: The cottages where the Holgates lived were demolished in 1984 and replaced with four 3-bedroomed houses.]

Whilst in Fairseat, Ginny attended Stansted School and had her own pony called Misty, a Welsh mountain mare. Her mother often brought Misty to the school at the end of the day for Ginny to ride home. Ginny also attended Mrs Kitney’s kindergarten in Borough Green and Mrs Margaret May’s school in Seal Chart. She went to riding lessons at Mrs May’s riding school and at the age of three jumped her first fence. During this time, her brother, Michael, went away to a Preparatory school. [Note: The Company Secretary at the riding school was Mrs May’s daughter, Anthea, who had married John Carlisle. He became an MP for Luton and they lived at the Old Post House, Fairseat.]

During the period she lived in Fairseat, her parents became friendly with local residents, Pam and Rodney Sheldon. Their son, Tom Sheldon, recalls, “Heather, Ginny’s Mum, taught me to ride, and the experience has stayed with me all my life!”

When Ginny was six, her father was posted to Singapore, and the family sailed on a troopship to join him. Misty stayed with Heather’s brother, Jack Rice, near Bedgebury, Kent. More MoD moves followed, and the family eventually settled in Devon. From age 13 to 16, she attended school in Kent and acquired her first horse, Dubonnet. By age 18, Ginny had won a team medal with Dubonnet at the 1973 Junior European championships in Pompadour, France. Unfortunately, her career was interrupted in 1976 when she broke her left arm in 23 places, and amputation was considered. Sadly, Ginny’s father died in 1980, just before she established herself as one of GB’s most successful eventers.

Undeterred, Ginny recovered from the injuries and was determined to continue her commitment to Equestrian Eventing. In the late 1970s, Ginny was looking for a new horse, and she and her mother visited Brendon Stud to consider a bay gelding, ‘Priceless’, sired by the thoroughbred stallion Ben Faerie. They devised a simple test by which they would buy or reject him.

Ginny would jump him over a deep, narrow ditch, and if he stopped or even glanced at it, they would pass him by. The Ben Fairie bay, who had been hunting with the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, flew across with a dynamic spring.

Despite being described as an “awkward chap”, the quirky Ben Faerie son went on to have an extraordinary eventing record, notching up six gold medals with Ginny Holgate. Priceless delivered team gold medals for Ginny and Great Britain at the 1981 and 1985 European Championships and the 1982 and 1986 World Championships, as well as team silver and individual bronze at the 1984 Olympics, and he became the European Champion at Burghley in 1985, followed by World Champion at Gawler in 1986, making him one of a very small, elite group of horses to hold both titles concurrently.

He also won both Badminton and Burghley, and until Andrew Nicholson’s Avebury came along and did the treble, he was the only horse to win the latter twice. Titles and accolades aside, he also never picked up a cross-country jumping penalty in a three-day event, which is a remarkable achievement.

“He mapped out my life,” Ginny said in an interview for Horse & Hound. “I would never have evented at that level without him or gone on to buy other horses. It was his brain, his attitude, his wilfulness and his guts that did it. He did what he did against all the odds.”

Ginny decided that the 1986 World Championships in Gawler would be the last ride for Priceless. “It was a beautiful way for him to retire”. Her adored Priceless became a foxhunter and is now on a stud, owned by one of Ginny’s friends. He also demonstrates how to evade capture, but only when he sees his former rider. “He was impossible to catch in the field,” recalls Ginny. “You had to go through a lengthy routine of not looking at him, walking round in circles, putting a feed bucket down and watching him have a sniff, only to run away. It would take 40 minutes. Neither my mother nor I could catch him, though he allowed the girls who worked for us to bring him in.”

The 1980s saw significant competition achievements for Ginny, summarised as follows:

World and European titles:
1985 European champion – Priceless
1986 World champion – Priceless
1987 European champion – Night Cap II
1989 European champion – Master Craftsman

Badminton Horse Trials:
1985 – Priceless,
1989 – Master Craftsman,
1993 – Welton Houdini

Burghley Horse Trials:
1983 – Priceless,
1984 – Night Cap II,
1985 – Priceless,
1986 – Murphy Himself
1989 – Master Craftsman

Ginny Leng married Michael Elliot in Bath in 1994, after being close friends for a decade. Michael Elliot is a Master of Foxhounds and a farmer. Taking her eventing career ‘day by day’, Ginny is now turning her attention to the new house the couple have built, saying there is so much to do that she is going to ‘make one set of curtains on a pole which we can move from room to room’. She is also looking forward to a lot of hunting: “Eventing is an occupation, hunting is relaxation”.

She has written (or co-written) several books about her equine career and her horses, as well as these pony books based upon the ‘Becky’ series:

Winning! – Collins, 1995
Race Against Time – Collins, 1996
High Hurdle – Collins, 1997

Today, Ginny remains an avid supporter and contributor to the sport of eventing and has been a Team trainer for both the British Three Day Event Team and the Irish Eventing Team.