Best British foals crowned

Although more than 100 dressage foals preceded the champion, the best was saved until last at Brightwells Best British Foal show at Addington and not even a blustery shower could put Marilyn and Tony Pilgrim’s Wyoming off his stride.

The Pilgrims bred the bay colt, who is by Broadstone West Country, at their Sporting Horse Stud in Cornwall. He gained the highest marks of the day, including a 9.2 for movement from judges Bernd Richter of the Westphalian Verband and Dr Crome Sperling of the Hannoverian Verband.

Wyoming retained his place at the top after the evening championship, collecting one of three £1,000 prize-funds put forward by the Meadow Stud and the Supporters of British Breeding.

The Pilgrims had a fantastic day as their stud also collected the event foal title with Devils Rock, a liver chestnut colt described as “the absolute spit of his father”, their 14-year-old Thoroughbred stallion, Devils Jump.

Marilyn has always had faith in her stallion, a son of the event sire Abergwiffy whom she bought as a surprise birthday present for her husband as a nine-month-old colt.

“From the moment I saw him, I knew I wanted to keep him. At last, he’s being recognised,” said Marilyn.

For Scottish breeder Robert Donaldson, from the Viewmount Stud in Peterhead, it was mission accomplished when his colt foal Wagner VU was selected as champion show jumping foal.

“It was my ambition to win this championship and I knew I had a chance ever since Wagner was two weeks old,” said Robert. “I’ve been so focused — it was going to happen.”

It was, however, not all celebration at the following evening’s auction, where 23 foals came forward for sale but only six found new homes. The outstanding purchase was the striking black colt Palladin, knocked down for £7,000 to Jersey-based Natasha Byfield.

Foal show results

British show jumping foal (judges: B Richter, Dr C Sperling).— 1, Viewmount Stud’s Wagner VU (Ludwig-Edison); 2, Blakeley Stud (Cavalier Royale-Wolfgang); 3, Jivetime Sport Horse Breeding’s Jivetime Elegantly Wasted (Renkum Englishman-Atlantus).

British dressage foal.— 1, Sporting Horse Stud’s Wyoming (Broadstone West Country-Didriksen); 2, River Rise Stud (Negro-Rossini); 3, Hawtins Stud’s Winter Tale (Wolkentanz-Hitchcock).

British event foal (J Holderness Roddam, B Parker).— 1, Sporting Horse Stud’s Devils Rock (Devils Jump-Dallas); 2, P Wyatt’s Ducal Miss Papner (Mourne Mountains-Primitive Rising); 3, H Buckle’s The Delinquent (Criminal Law).