Hundreds more flock to Great Yorkshire Show after rain-soaked opening day

Tuesday saw some of the biggest titles of the day decided in the cattle rings, with two national breed society shows naming their champions and the top animals battling it out for the coveted Supreme Beef title.

• View pictures from day one of the Great Yorkshire Show

The British Charolais Cattle Society named its Champion as Dorset-based cow Balbithan Iona, bread by the Whites.

A Halifax bull, Millerston Jester took the UK Beef Shorthorn Championship and the Supreme Beef Championship went to British Simmental cow Popes Princess Cleo, owned by the Wood family of Dutton, Preston, and show with calf by father and daughter team Jimmy and Hannah.

Away from the competitiveness of the show rings, a host of other attractions from television stunt horses to cookery and fashion demonstrations are delighting the crowds.

Equines from Atkinson’s Action Horses are staging a thrilling show in the Main Ring over the three days, complete with fire torches, kneeling horses and riders being dragged along the floor by their stirrups.

It is a first GYS appearance for the Hull-based company which supplies highly trained horses for popular television series’ including Poldark, Victoria and Peaky Blinders.

The GYS crowds are being wowed by their daring stunts, although the show did need some minor last-minute revisions on Tuesday due to the wet conditions.

Rider and trainer Ben Atkinson of Atkinson’s Action Horses, pictured above, is an expert in the ‘liberty’ technique which involves riding with no tack to control the horse.

He was just one of the team showcasing his daredevil skills in the Main Ring and said the riders were relishing the show experience.

He said: “As far as I know we are the first English team to perform such a show here and I think everybody is really enjoying it.

“It’s something a bit different.”

Mr Atkinson said it was impossible to explain how long it takes to train the horses to perform the stunts that Atkinson’s are famed for, saying: “Any human being can learn to do a backward flip from a standstill, but how long it takes them will be different for everybody; it is just impossible to say.

“It is all about having a partnership; there is a saying about liberty that ‘sometimes you win and sometimes you learn’.”

The Yorkshire Vets, Peter Wright and Julian Norton, strut their stuff on the catwalk

Meanwhile over in the fashion pavilion, a clutch of celebrities strutted their stuff on the catwalk including Thirsk’s own Peter Wright and Julian Norton of the Channel 5 series The Yorkshire Vet.

The pair, who work from the Skeldale Vet Centre, are being filmed for the series throughout the GYS and Mr Wright joked that he took part in the fashion parade because as a true Yorkshireman he couldn’t turn down the chance of a free jacket.

He added: “I have never strutted my stuff in my life and it was very nerve-wracking.

“I would rather castrate 20 bulls than do that again!”

The celebrity fashionistas, from left, Yorkshire cricketer Ryan Sidebottom, BBC weather presenter Abbie Dewhurst, Leeds Rhinos' Keith Senior, and Yorkshire vets Peter Wright and Julian Norton

Mr Norton said he was enjoying the show as a nice change from being in the vet practice during the week.

He said: “When you are all around the livestock you could say it’s a bit like home from home.

“But the difference is that when you are working you tend to be treating sick animals but here you are getting the top quality animals in prime condition, it is the pinnacle really and it is nice to see that side of it.”

The duo were joined onstage in the Fashion Pavillion by cricketer Ryan Sidebottom, Leeds Rhinos rugby player Keith Senior and BBC weather presenter Abbie Dewhurst.