British Breeder Magazine November 2019

BRITISH BREEDING FUTURITY
BRITISH
BREEDING
Celebrates the 2019
Futurity Season
It was great to round off the 2019
Futurity Series with a Show and
Championship at Solihull on 22
September. Breeders from all over the
country came to participate in the
Futurity Championship, a Mare Show
and an Open Youngstock Championship
celebrating British Breeding with a
great range of beautifully bred quality
horses. The judges came from this
year’s pool of Futurity judges, including
Mikael Nolin from Sweden, Rik van
Miert from Belgium and Lesley Peyton-
Gilbert and Carron Nicol from the UK.
The judges were spoiled for choice with
some lovely youngsters coming forward
for all ages and disciplines. Entries
were initially judged in their own age
and discipline group, with the top
candidates from each age group going
forward to the Futurity Championship.
It was great to see a wide range of
horses and ponies coming forward,
reflecting the diversity and
Regatta Le Blanc
inclusiveness of the Futurity, which is
an evaluation series for all British bred
sports horses and ponies, regardless
of studbook. It was also great to see a
high quality range of Endurance horses
coming forward who received their
own award, generously sponsored by
Zoe Lindop. There were lovely prizes
on offer for the Futurity show winners,
ranging from Baileys feed vouchers and
Absorbine product prizes for all section
winners, to free tickets to our British
Breeding Celebration Ball in November
for the Futurity Champions.
The judged faced a difficult task
of picking a champion and reserve
champion from a line-up of real quality
horses. In the end, they settled on
Woodlander Stud’s lovely dressage bred
2yo Reggatta de Blanc (Revolution x
Zack) as the overall Futurity Champion
in recognition of her truly outstanding
movement and international
performance potential.
The Reserve Champion was the
gorgeous Eventing foal Future Classic
Pleasure by the up-and-coming young
stallion Future Guilty Pleasure out of
the Future Gravitas mare Future Class
Act. This is a particularly remarkable
achievement for her breeder, Julia
Hodkin, who also bred the sire and
the mother, as well as the dam sire,
showing what generations of careful
breeding can achieve – a real triumph
for British breeding! Congratulations to
them all! To celebrate the importance
of the mares, the show held a Mare
Championship with some wonderful
examples coming forward. The overall
champion of this class was the very
harmonious eventing mare Future Class
Act (Future Gravitas x Cruising), with
reserve going to another eventing mare
in Morelands Carousel (Billy Be Cool
x Kiltealy Spring) who convinced with
great movement and athleticism.
It was overall a great day for British
eventers, with the Open Youngstock
Championship won by another
youngster from Future Sports Horses
in Future Guilty Liaison (Vincent x
Cantoblanco) who added a lovely splash
of colour to the proceedings. The
Reseve Champion was the beautiful
Hochabella (Hochadel x Relevant).
From this fantastic line up of
Champions and Reserves it was a tricky
job to pick out the overall Supreme
Champion. In the end, this wonderful
accolade went to the fantastic
Reggatta, owned by Zhara Sadry – what
an exciting horse for the future! The
Reserve Supreme was the lovely Future
Class Act, whose wonderful foal came a
very close runner up, so it all stayed in
the family.
Future Guilty Liaison - Photo Kevin Sparrow
Julia Hodkin’s Future Classic Pleasure
and Future Class Act
Congratulations to all participants who
supported this event and made it a
wonderful display of the breadth and
quality of British breeding!
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