Ashley Jenkins landed back-to-back young horse titles when he topped the KBIS five-year-old line-up at the 2024 LeMieux National Dressage Championships with last year’s four-year-old winner Game On I.
The Governer x Sir Donnerhall son, who was bred by owner Nicola Mahoney, dominated the five-year-old contingent here at Somerford Park, scoring 90% to lead the first round of the competition before coming out on top in the final.
The format of the final involves young horses being assessed by a ride judge, this year Alex Harrison-West, and Ashley said the last time he’d seen somebody else ride “G” was at the nationals last year. But, as Nicola pointed out, the fact that he gave Alex such a good ride in the Somerford arena demonstrated his exceptional rideability, alongside his three outstanding paces.
“He’s rideable and happy to do the job because he’s not been over-produced,” she explained. “It’s been all about getting the balance right, and not taking advantage of a good-moving horse. Ashley’s been really fair to him, and has been producing G for the long term, not just for young horse classes.”
She added that they considered campaigning for the World Breeding Championships this year, but opted out in favour of giving G another year of “cross-training” instead, with plenty of hacking and polework and “lots of good experiences”.
Following this win, G will have some time off before Nicola starts riding him herself – and the World Breeding Championships are not off the cards for 2025.
“The plan for him changes every day to be honest. But he does just seem to take everything we throw at him and he loves it – he loves being the centre of attention,” said Nicola.
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“You always go into breeding hoping you’ll breed an amazing horse, but you’re in the lap of the gods. But he has been that special horse from the start.”
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