Farewell to Jumbo’s breeder and Ledbury master, Archie Smith-Maxwell
The breeder one of the highest-ranking event sires of all time died peacefully at home last week (22 November) at the age of 86.
Archie Smith-Maxwell bred the Irish draught-thoroughbred stallion Jumbo, who evented to advanced level with Andrew Nicholson. His progeny include 2012 Burghley champion Avebury and triple 4-star winner Headley Britannia.
In 2010, Mr Smith-Maxwell was presented with awarded the British Equestrian Federation’s Meritoire award for a lifetime’s contribution to British sport horse breeding.
He was also a master of the Ledbury for a decade and was involved in the breeding of the hounds for more than 30 years.
His son Philip told H&H that he was a “great man” and that he had taken great pleasure in the week before his death in seeing his wedding present to his granddaughter Alexandra Dunn — a racehorse called Holy Veil — come in 4th at Wolverhampton.
This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (28 November 2013)
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Sophia Heath joined Horse & Hound in July 2013 having previously worked for the Daily Telegraph's Olympics website, CNN International and Omnisport. A Durham graduate with a Masters in journalism from City University, Sophia has evented, showjumped and hunted. Sophia left Horse & Hound in early 2015 to join an international boating website.