Foals shine at Solihull Futurity *VIDEO*
Four foals were awarded elite premiums at the Solihull 1 Baileys/BEF Futurity on 17 August.
The evaluators, David Trott, Lesley Peyton-Gilbert, Fred Bergendorff and Chris Hunnable awarded three dressage foals and one showjumping foal these sought after elite premiums.
Heading the scores at Solihull 1 was Lynne Crowden’s dressage colt foal, Woodlander Wild Love (Woodlander Wild Child x For Compliment) with an elite premium score of 9.15. Wild Love’s dam is Lynne’s former Futurity elite mare and recently graded State Premium mare, Woodlander For Your Love.
Lynne said: “For Your Love is now in Germany and also did a fantastic mare performance test. Wild Love was an embryo transfer foal and she was carried by For Your Love’s dam, St Pr Louisiana. It is an interesting story as Louisiana is also Wavavoom’s dam and the great grandmother of Woodlander Wild Child. Wild Love is a spectacular foal and will be kept as a stallion prospect because of his fantastic motherline.”
Robert Lickley’s dressage filly foal, Kefiera LH (Negro x Johnson) closely followed suit with an elite premium of 9.10. Kefiera’s dam, Betwina comes from the dam line of Fust Romancier. This is the third foal she has had.
Robert said: “Kefiera is a class foal and I will be very interested in taking her back to the Futurity as a three-year-old to try for the Futurity equine bridge. We keep four or five of our foals we have bred each year. The oldest group we have are now four-year-olds. The plan is to produce horses for the top FEI levels of dressage competition. This is the first time we have been to the Futurity, Kefiera was a late foal and so I didn’t take her to the KWPN Championship.”
The showjumping foal to achieve an elite premium at Solihull 1 was Emma Hibbett’s filly, Carthago Girl, see video top, (Silvester x Chicago). She scored an elite premium of 9.00. Cathargo Girl was bred by Hazel Offord, out of her consistent mare, Call Girl.
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Several other offspring of Call Girl have had great Futurity success with three of her foals all by Silvester now attaining elite status. Silvester’s Diamond scored 9.00 in the eventing section as a yearling in 2010, Silver Socks attained a showjumping elite premium of 9.20 as a foal in 2012 in addition to Cathargo Girl this year.
Also, full brother to Cathargo Girl, Carthago Chicago who was born in 2010, attained four higher first Futurity premiums, he attended the Futurity each year from a foal to a three year old.
Hazel said: “Carthago Girl is now owned by Emma although she will remain in stud with us to be produced for competition. Carthago Girl is the 8th elite Futurity scoring youngster Silvester has produced.”
Filly foal, Zaza (Zack x Londonderry) is another dressage foal with a Woodlander connection to have achieved an elite premium at Solihull 1. Owned and bred by Sarah Lucas, Zaza achieved a score of 9.00 in the dressage section. Zaza is the fourth elite premium scoring foal born to her dam St Pr Limoncello. Three-year-old colt, Heaven also owned by Sarah Lucas is a dual elite premium youngster out of St Pr Limoncello and her 2013 and 2014 foals, Happy Days and Zazu also went elite.
The mare’s owner added: “To top this, Limoncello is also the dam of our exciting stallion Clapton. Limoncello is in foal to Galaxy Win T for 2016. Zaza is an absolutely super foal.”
Lynne Crowden added: “Several of our elite scoring Futurity foals did incredibly well at the Hanoverian foal show earlier this week including Zaza and our top Wild Child colts. It is great that the European and British judges say the same things, particularly at the higher levels.”
Bruce Matthews’ showjumping colt foal, Shamwari De Facto (Diarado x Now or Never) scored an elite premium of 9.00 at Solihull 1. Bruce both owns and bred this colt and feels: “He is of stallion quality, he is a very nice horse with a good character and movement.”
Three-year-old Woodlander Waterloo (Wavavoom x Don Frederico) scored a higher first premium of 8.95 at Solihull 1 for his owner Debbie Green. Waterloo took home an elite premium of 9.20 as a foal back in 2012.
Breeder, Lynne Crowden said: “It was a very near miss with Waterloo not quite getting the elite, we are thrilled with the way he has grown and developed. Carsten Sandrock bought him as a foal and has now sold him on to Debbie. He is a very elastic and expressive horse and Debbie is very much looking forward to competing him in time.”
The West Sussex based, Bellegrace Stud had the highest eventing score of the day at Solihull 1 with their filly foal, Secret Service (Primitive Proposal x Craig). She scored a higher first premium of 8.88 for Melissa Wood of Bellegrace Stud. Secret Service is the second foal Melissa has bred from her mare, Future Glamour. Melissa said: “Secret Service will go to Osberton at the end of September. I am really pleased with her.”
Top yearling at Solihull 1 was Caroline Leigh’s yearling colt, J B Leatherdale (Lord Leatherdale x Negro). He scored a higher first premium of 8.55. As a foal in 2014, J B Leatherdale also attained a higher first Futurity premium.
Caroline of the Stretton Hall Stud in Malpas bred J B Leatherdale from her KWPN elite preference mare, Wiegro.
Caroline said: “I bought Wiegro two years ago and she has now had two youngsters for me, J B Leatherdale and his full brother, colt foal, King Leatherdale – who scored a first premium at the Futurity this year. There is also a full brother, Chapter Leatherdale standing as a graded stallion in Holland. In total Wiegro has six foals. I am planning to take some embryos from her next year and we will try and get a filly foal.”
Wiegro has competed to advanced medium level dressage and Caroline is keen to begin riding her again and get her out competing. Caroline added: “I am really pleased with both my foals, they both have such a good canter and are very confident. I am very keen to keep one of them as a stallion prospect and competition horse.”
Caroline has been breeding horses for the past three years from Stretton Hall Stud and has bred a total of six altogether.
Top two-year-old at Solihull 1 was Shelby Smith’s filly, Champions Little Mix (Landtanzer x Rubioso), she scored a higher first premium of 8.55 in the showjumping section. Champions Little Mix was bred by Shelby’s mother, Alison Smith from Market Harborough. Champions Little Mix was bred from Gary Powers’ mare, Royal and Regal.
Alison said: “We had Royal and Regal on loan for Shelby to compete in dressage, they got some really good marks and then Gary agreed that we could breed a foal from her. We are so pleased with Champions Little Mix, she has a lovely temperament and very good movement.”
Visit www.britishbreeding.org for full details and results.
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