Peter Charles is one of the world’s most successful show jumpers, winning over 50 grands prix to date. He is an Olympic team gold medallist, dual European gold medallist and triple winner of the Hickstead Derby.

Born in Liverpool, Great Britain, Peter started riding at the age of 16. As a teenager, he moved to Ireland to train with Iris Kellett and eventually became stable jockey to Eddie Macken.

He made his international debut at Hickstead at 21 years old riding for Britain, but began competing for Ireland in 1992 making 71 appearances in Nations Cup team for the country.

He made two appearances on Irish European teams, both times winning gold. In 1995, he and La Ina won Ireland’s first individual gold (St Gallen, Switzerland) and in 2001 he won team gold (Arnhem, Netherlands) riding Corrada.

After finishing eighth individually in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, a month later Peter jumped the only double clear with La Ina in the Du Maurier grand prix, Calgary. This performance won him show jumping’s richest prize in front of a record-breaking 52,000-strong crowd.

Corrada won the La Baule, France, Derby with Peter in 2001. A month later, the pair headed their first of three consecutive Hickstead Derbys, making them part of an elite group of multiple winners of the toughest show jumping class in the world.

In 2005, Peter became Team Murka’s principal rider after joining forces with business woman and show jumping enthusiast Olga White. However, two years later, he broke vertebrae in a fall at a British national competition. During his recovery from the injury, Peter reverted back to British nationality.

Peter took Hickstead’s King George V Gold Cup Grand Prix with Murka’s Pall Mall in 2009. This gave him a record of being the only winner of both of Britain’s richest grands prix, having won the Glasgow International equivalent in 1994 with La Ina. During the same year, he represented Britain at the European Show Jumping Championships held at Windsor, Britain, with Murka’s Pom d’Ami.

At the 2012 London Olympic Games, Peter secured team gold with Murka’s Vindicat W for the British team jumping clear as the last rider in a jump-off against The Netherlands.

From 2008 to today, Peter is one of Britain’s strongest performers on Top-Level Nations Cup teams, consistently jumping clear rounds