British Breeder Magazine November 2019

BRITISH BREEDING’S EQUINE BRIDGE
Corinne Bracken trained the show
jumpers and worked through a series of
exercises to help these horses develop.
“This is an exciting project that will
clearly develop into a showcase for
young talented horses in the future.
The Equine Bridge is such a crucial
link for the breeders to further their
youngsters for the competition arena
and something I am very pleased to
have been involved with today”, said
Corinne.
During the afternoon, the dressage
participants enjoyed their coaching
sessions with Peter Storr, who explored
the extent of each horse’s education
to date. “This is a really good idea
and gives riders the opportunity to
get their training on the right path, in
accordance with the scales of training
for dressage. I found that riders
generally needed to ride more forward
to the contact to develop their horse’s
balance”, explained Peter.
The evening saw a feature showcase
of the top scoring 3 year olds from this
year’s futurity evaluations.
On the second day, each horse
completed a test with their own rider
and was then put through their paces
by the test riders – Mat Baker rode
the dressage horses, Alex Kennedy
the eventers and Tracey Priest the
showjumpers.
In the dressage section, Catherston
Timeless put in a fine performance
for a gold premium score of 8.61, the
top score of the event. With a 9 for
trot and for trainability from both the
trainer and the test rider and a 9.25
for trainability from the evaluators,
this 4 year old filly has all the right
credentials. She is the 1st foal to
be born by Jennie Loriston-Clarke’s
multi-purpose stallion, Timolin, who is
by the famous dressage sire, Totilas.
She is out of a Breitling W daughter,
Bee Precise, who was out of the
Laurentainer mare, Lambada.
The 5 year old chestnut filly, Don
Domonique, was ridden by breeder and
owner, Ashleigh Hill to score 8.54 for a
gold premium. She is by Don Frederic
out of a Jazz mare, Tacktiek, who
Ashleigh bought as a 9 year old and
competed up to medium at regional
level before deciding to breed. The filly
has only been backed for 2 months and
was a little green at times, but Ashleigh
was delighted with her performance
and is very excited about her future
potential.
The top pony went to Pippa and
Bridget Drew’s Hammerwood Ritz,
who scored 8.41 for a gold premium,
ridden by Natasha Powell-Richards
who has previously competed ponies
internationally. Ritz, by Rembrant
out of a Cavan mare, came 3rd in
the British 4yr Dressage Pony Final at
Hartpury this year and then enjoyed
stud duties.
A disappointing number of eventers
were forward, but the standard was
very high. The only 6 year old in the
event, Tinka’s de Niro, took the highest
spot by a narrow margin, scoring
8.32 for a gold premium, ridden by
Steven Smith for owner, Gwynneth
Stageman. “Leon”, as he is known,
by Dark De Niro out of a Tinker’s
Boy mare, was originally produced
by James McCullough and came to
Steven at the end of June. He has had
4 runs since then and he successfully
completed the 6yr old championship at
Osberton, at the beginning of October.
He will be competing at dressage and
showjumping over the winter, the aim
is for him to do a 3* at the end of the
2020 season.
Catherston Oakley scored 8.29 for
a gold premium, with high scores
for his trainability. This 5 year old
stallion is by Oppositon Bombshell out
of the Dutch Gold mare, Catherston
Deodara, who was herself out of the
International event mare Wellingtonia
ridden in the Junior Europeans in Rome
in 1983 by Anne Dicker. Also in Rome
then was Fleetwater Opposition who
won individual and team Gold who
is the sire of Opposition Bombshell.
Oakley was ridden by Charlotte Dicker,
Anne’s daughter. He is Premium Graded
with Sport Horse Breeding of Great
Britain and, as a foal, he went Elite at
the BEF Futurity.
In showjumping, the 5 year old colt,
Balou for Pleasure, took the honours
with a gold score of 8.06, owned and
bred by Lisa Maynard and Chris Jackson
and ridden by Lisa Maynard. Balou for
Pleasure is by Balou du Route out of
Lordships La Rochelle, and already has
several career highlights. He went Elite
as a foal at the futurity 2014 and has
the highest 2yr old across all disciplines
2016 futurity. He was the leading 3
year old jumper in 2017 and British
Breeding supreme champion 2017.
This young stallion has 2 colt foals on
the ground in 2019 Blue Balou (Gold,
Futurity Writtle) and Lordships Bear
Necessities (Elite, Futurity Writtle).
Rachael Holdsworth
Photos - Horse Power Creative
Hammerwood Ritz - Photo Horse Power Creative
Catherston Timeless - Photo Kevin Sparrow
Tinka-s De Niro - Photo Horse Power Creative
Some of the evaluators - From left to right:
Rik van Miert, Patrick van Miert, Mikael Nolin, Frank
de Kok, Lucy Simpson, Carron Nicol.
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