Amy Everett and Box Hill Nifty won the 60th Tom Quilty Gold Cup, held at Stirling’s Crossing in Imbil, Queensland in July. Image by Sarah Sullivan Photography.
When Amy Everett was a little girl, she had that dream all horse-mad girls have: she wanted a pony. Little did she know back then that dream would eventually take her to the top of the podium in Australia’s most prestigious endurance event, the 160-kilometre Tom Quilty Gold Cup.
But that is exactly what happened two decades later at the recent 60th anniversary of the pinnacle event at Stirling’s Crossing in Imbil, Queensland. Amy and her very own horse, Box Hill Nifty, finished in first place in a thrilling three-way gallop finish.
“Honestly, it was unbelievable. I was not expecting that outcome at all,” she says. “Let alone to just get to the Tom Quilty, it has always been a dream of mine, like many others. We had the best time the whole time, but then to have great results, I was very shocked.”
Endurance wasn’t a sport she was born into. In fact, horses weren’t part of the family until Amy begged and pleaded for one of her own and the obsession never wavered. “I grew up in a non-horsey background – no one in my family was into horses so I was your typical young girl begging mum and dad for a horse,” she explains.
“They eventually surprised me with a pony when I was nine or ten years old and that was my first pony.”
That first pony planted the seed for spending long days in the saddle in the bush. “I used to ride this pony around for hours in the day because I just loved it so much, so there was something inside me that instantly gravitated towards it.
“I was lucky enough that a neighbour of ours at the time used to compete in endurance, so because I had no one to ride with, because no one in my family rode, I used to train with her when she was training her horse. I did that for many years and that is where I first heard about endurance.”
But it wasn’t until three years ago, in her 20s, when Amy got the opportunity to start endurance riding after deciding to purchase a horse for herself.
Enter Box Hill Nifty.
Amy Everett and Box Hill Nifty began endurance riding together three years ago. Image by Sarah Sullivan Photography.
QUILTY PEDIGREE
Bred by Sonia Bonham, Box Hill Nifty was out of the well-performed endurance mare Box Hill Saintly and by standout stallion Aloha Zulm. The grey gelding was yet to start an endurance career before he landed with Amy but there was no doubt he had the build and the breeding for it, with both parents competing successfully at numerous 160km endurance events – including the Tom Quilty.
At the time Amy came across Nifty, he was with the Jones family – Brad, Wendy, Shelley, and Allix – who have had numerous accolades and successes within the sport.
And so both Amy and Nifty’s endurance journeys began. Thankfully there’s no shortage of support in endurance and with the help of a host of people they were well on their way.
Those first outings only proved to Amy what she knew: endurance was the sport for her. “The enjoyment you see people get out of it, the places you see… and you are doing it all on horseback. I find that pretty amazing,” she said.
“Some of the places we have gone to for endurance rides already in such a short amount of time have been incredible. They are probably places you wouldn’t go to or hear about, but you are going there for an event.”
It wasn’t until last October when Amy and Nifty completed their first 160km ride under the mentorship of experienced trainer Jolene Cole. Jolene has trained numerous successful endurance horses and riders, including her daughter, Emma Ireland – who won the Tom Quilty in 2024 on Razorback Kelly’s Fire – and New Zealand rider Ashley Cole and Tonki Dee Boo Novak, who won in 2023.
Jolene took Amy and Nifty under her wing, switched up their training program and put Nifty on CEN feeds, which has seen many of her champions thrive.
With that, Amy and Nifty finished third Middleweight at the 2025 NSW State Championships and Bullio Cup.
“She has been a lifesaver, training for an endurance, working out what to feed your horse, how many kilometres to do, all of that, and she is so handy with the day-to-day stuff,” Amy says of Jolene. “To have that next step of knowledge with these horses and with this sport, because it is so different to any other sport, it has been a game changer. I now call them my endurance family.
“In our eyes anyway, they are not just mentors, or people we know through endurance. They are family.”
ULTIMATE GOAL
After the first 160km ride was ticked off, Amy and Nifty set their sights on the ultimate goal: the Tom Quilty Gold Cup.
The Quilty rotates around Australian states each year and the 2026 event was to be held at the world-class Stirling’s Crossing complex in Imbil, Queensland. Although preparations for that began well before the start of this year’s season, 2026 was the time to knuckle down and achieve that goal.
The plan couldn’t have worked out any better. It started with a handful of 40km warm ups at Windeyer in February, followed by a 100km ride on a tough Tooraweenah track in April.
Then came the NSW State Championships 160km ride in May. Amy and Nifty crossed the line together with Amelia Heafey and Windradyne Flame to be crowned NSW champions there.
After a short recovery break, Amy and Nifty set about putting the finishing touches on their Quilty campaign under Jolene’s guidance.
Then the end of June saw them begin their trek from the Southern Highlands in NSW to sunny Queensland for the ultimate goal. When they arrived there, Amy felt like a kid at Christmas. “It was the first time we had been to a Tom Quilty, both he and I… so being in that environment it is easy to get excited and caught up in it, because it is such an amazing event,” she says.
Riders and horses traditionally spend days in camp prior to the ride, soaking up the atmosphere, riding the tracks and getting used to the new environment.
Then the time came for the main event. The Tom Quilty begins at midnight. The 225 horses mustered, Trevor Knight’s song rang out, and everyone was ready to go.
“Even sitting here right now, I have got goosebumps looking back at it,” reflects Amy. “It was a feeling like no other. Looking around at all these other horses and riders marshalling around and being able to be a part of that on a horse that means so much to you, it was an incredible feeling – something I haven’t felt before.
“It is definitely its own thing in its own category.”
And off they went. The ride went smoothly for the duo, and in Amy’s words, they were just out there having fun. “Nifty was feeling amazing the whole ride so I was able to enjoy it,” she explains. “We just had a blast, the whole day. I could feel him enjoying the whole day and it was showing through him. We didn’t really have any expectations at all, just went into it wanting to have the best time possible which we did.”
The 2026 Tom Quilty Gold Cup came down to a gallop finish. Image by Sarah Sullivan Photography.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
The Tom Quilty is broken up into five loops, or legs, with a vet check at the end of each to determine whether the horse is healthy enough to continue. Once given the tick of approval, there is a 40-minute break before time restarts for the next loop.
Nifty floated through the multiple vet checks and the final 16km loop came down to the wire.
Three horses and riders – Amy on Nifty, Charlotte Williamson on Stirling’s Thor, and Emma Ireland on Razorback Rolex – were locked in for a gallop finish. The little grey powered ahead to finish a length in front of Charlotte and Thor, with his ears pricked towards the finish line the whole time.
But there was one more test: the final vet check.
Even though they had finished the 160kms, if they didn’t pass that, they would be eliminated; that was no problem.
“The amount of people that came up to us and were like ‘You could just see it on that horse, he was doing it for you’,” Amy says of their bond. “It was really cool to hear other peoples’ sides and hear how they saw how strong our connection is.
“Once we passed the vet check I was just in full tears of excitement and happy. I just couldn’t stop hugging him, I was just so proud of him.”
Although Amy and Nifty crossed the line first, it takes a team and they were right beside her in the vet ring when the thumbs up came. “I was so proud, so happy and I had my partner Bailey there with me and he had tears,” Amy recalls. “Hearing everyone cheering, seeing my family, Jolene and Emma were vetting right next to us… to go and give them a hug straight away, it was such a beautiful feeling.
“My family and supporters… I couldn’t go without all the people behind the scenes, which is another big thing.”
Amy and Nifty have a special bond. Image by Sarah Sullivan Photography.
‘HE WAS THE ONE…’
Even weeks on from her success, Amy admits it’s still so surreal to her. She just wanted to finish the Tom Quilty successfully but to win with her best friend, that was the biggest bonus.
“Our goal forever was the Tom Quilty,” she says. “I just wanted my completion buckle. It was something that stood out to me. The fact that we have just achieved that goal and achieved that little bit higher as well, I think I am going to enjoy that moment and live in that moment.”
To think, it all came down to that little girl who had a dream to own a horse. She put all her bets on one horse, and it came together for the pair of them. “The moment I brought that horse home, I knew he was mine; he was the one.” EQ
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