11 things you might not know about five-star-winning eventer Tom McEwen

Last weekend, British event rider Tom McEwen added a five-star victory at Pau Horse Trials (23-27 October) to his already impressive eventing CV. Here’s a few things you might not have known about one of the stars of the eventing world…

1. Tom was born on 10 May 1991, which currently makes him 28 years old.

2. He is based on the Princess Royal’s Gatcombe estate — he was previously based at Badgerstown, Mark Todd’s yard near Swindon.

3. He comes from a horsey background — his mother Ali was showjumper and his father Bobby is a partner at Valley Equine Hospital in Lambourn.

4. Tom trains with Ferdi Eilberg and Tina Fletcher and enjoys rugby and racing outside of eventing.

5. He was a member of the gold medal-winning pony European eventing team in 2007 with his ride Dick Taytoe.

6. Tom’s younger sister Ella events for fun and was on the Pony European eventing team in 2008 and 2009, winning a team silver medal at both championships.

7. Tom was on the European young rider eventing team in 2010 and 2011. He won team gold in 2010 riding Major Sweep and then won another team gold in 2011 aboard Private Rudolph.

8. He has won the CCI4*-L under-25 class at Bramham twice. The first was with Diesel in 2012, and the pair were subsequently selected to ride at the Senior European Eventing Championships in Malmö. The second victory at Bramham came in 2016, when he rode his Pau 5* winner Toldeo De Kerser, who was then longlisted for the Rio Olympics.

Continued below…

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9. Tom has 13 five-star completions to his name. The first was in 2011, when he rode Dry Old Party to finish 19th at Burghley. Six of these 13 completions have been top-15 finishes.

10. He has won 11 international events.

11. Tom started riding his World Equestrian Games team gold-medal-winning mount Toledo De Kerser, who he owns with Jane Inns and his mother, in 2013 when the gelding, by Diamant De Semilly, was six. The following year they finished second in the World 7-year-old Eventing Championships at Le Lion D’Angers.

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