Supporting British events
Badminton-winning event rider Piggy March shares her thoughts on early-season eventing and why it’s important to back British events, in her exclusive H&H column this week. “Those early events have played a key part in educating and getting horses going in good time to make longer-range plans,” she says. “This can be the best time for fantastic ground and weather, which has certainly been the case this year.” Piggy talks through the benefits of Poplar’s courses, delight at seeing crowds braving the elements in early March, and of Barbury’s return to the calendar. She also reflects on why other spring events need riders’ support and how pleased she was to see Thoresby’s organisers rewarded for their efforts in staging the first “big” event of the season.
Competing top home-breds
H&H news editor Eleanor Jones spoke to British showjumper Mark Edwards about producing home-breds to compete at the top level of the sport, in an exclusive feature for H&H subscribers. Mark spoke about the satisfaction of knowing his rides from birth, their laid-back starts to their competitive careers and how he knows when he has a superstar on his hands. “It’s always nice to win, whatever horse you’re on, but to do it on one you’ve seen from the word go just adds to the whole value of why we do it. It gives you that extra bit of buzz, and you can’t really describe it. It’s what we do it for,” said Mark.
Gene doping
Pre-emptive measures concerning gene doping, to protect horse welfare and sporting integrity, have come into effect in international horse sport and British racing in recent days. Gene doping was already banned by the FEI and in British racing, but both authorities have now further strengthened their rules. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced on 25 it had invested £2m on research in this area and would be incorporating tests for gene doping into its routine raceday and out-of-competing sampling with immediate effect. The FEI’s enhanced regulations were added to its prohibited substances list on 1 April. BHA acting chief executive officer Brant Dunshea said: “It’s essential that we are proactive in this space, and through investing in this cutting-edge research we now have the technological capabilities to detect and deter any attempts to exploit nefarious techniques that could give horses an unfair advantage.”
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