Baileys Futurity Making an Impact
Saturday 12 January 2008 saw over 300 breeders and supporters of British performance horse and pony breeding gather at the Grange City Hotel in London to celebrate the achievements of young British bred horses in 2007. Not least were the prizes presented to the top scorers in the Baileys Horse Feeds/British Breeding Futurity and Young Horse Evaluations which has seen numbers of enrolled horses grow year on year. In 2007 320 horses were enrolled and evaluated at six venues around the country and the aim is for this to grow with 11 evaluation dates planned at 10 venues this year, meaning the target of 450 horses should be easily achievable.
The Futurity evaluates young performance horses and ponies, from foals to four years, to identify whether the equine athletes have the talent to excel and are likely to be able to withstand the rigours of modern competition. Each horse or pony is awarded scores out of 10 for criteria including conformation, movement, athleticism and suitability for their chosen discipline. An overall mark is then calculated and all results recorded on the National Equine Database (NED) with a view to enabling the early identification of potentially successful breeding programmes. NED is due to be launched to the public this spring and, with data supplied by passport issuing organisations (PIOs) and the competition Lead Bodies, aims to hold information on all registered horses which can be searched by a variety of criteria.
Not only did 2007 see the highest numbers of horses forward but also the first horses scoring 10s, with the two year old colt, Furst Opera, bred by Gemini Stud, gaining full marks for type as a potential dressage horse and the three year old colt, Zubin R, bred by River Stud, who gained his for athleticism as a show jumper. The breeders of these and all the other top scorers of the age groups from foal to four year old, plus leading Sire and Dam, all collected a coveted glass trophy and prize money gathered from all the enrolment fees for that age group. “Our involvement with the Futurity Young Horse Evaluations gives me great satisfaction,” enthused Baileys Marketing Manager, Jane Buchan. “When we first got involved, I thought it sounded like a really worthwhile scheme with a long term future and the ability to have an enormous impact on the future of sport horse and pony breeding in the UK. After just three years, it looks like this impact could be felt sooner than we originally anticipated!”
Futurity Young Horse Evaluations Results 2007
All winners were presented with their trophy by Jane Buchan, Marketing Manager at Baileys (left)
Top Scoring Foal (9.24) - Cquins Revenge (AES)
Filly/Colt - Filly
Discipline – Show Jumping
Sire – Zarlequin (AES)
Dam – Connorcourt’s Revenge (AES)
Breeders – Lesley and Rachael Aitken
Owners – Breeders
Top Scoring Yearling (8.8) – Lucky For Some (AES)
Filly/Colt - Filly
Discipline – Show Jumping
Sire – Corravale (Holst)
Dam – Pompidoe (KWPN)
Breeder – Sonia Gilmore
Owner – Breeder
Top Scoring Two Year Old (9.3) – Furst Opera
Filly/Colt - Colt
Discipline – Dressage
Sire – Furst Heinrich (Westf)
Dam – Weltregent (Hann)
Breeder – Georgie Belton, Gemini Stud www.gemini-stud.co.uk
Owners – Breeder
Top Scoring Three Year Old (9.5) – Zubin R (KWPN)
Filly/Colt - Colt
Discipline – Show Jumping
Sire – Lupicor (KWPN)
Dam – Fabionne (KWPN)
Breeder – Sheri Tozer Robb, River Stud
Owners – Matthew Zaccia
Top Scoring Four Year Old (8.64) – Puck’s Glen
Filly/Colt - Gelding
Discipline – Show Jumping
Sire – Pro-Set (KWPN)
Dam – Indra (KWPN)
Breeder – Edith Rutherford
Owners – Breeder
Leading Sire of Youngstock presented for the Futurity – Kings Composer (GSB)
Sire – Sousa (GSB)
Dam – Pullandese (GSB)
Breeder – Mrs M Warman
Owners – Angela Wise, Dalcotes Stud
Leading Dam of Youngstock presented for the Futurity – Fabionne (KWPN)
Sire – Pion (KWPN)
Dam – Sabine (KWPN)
Owners – Sheri Tozer Robb, River Stud