The seven-year-old Glamourdale son Lestingdale VS has moved to be trained by top British grand prix rider Gareth Hughes.
Zoe Kirkpatrick’s stallion has been ridden by Elly Darling, who competed him up to elementary level. As Elly gave birth to a daughter, Esmerelda, this month, Lestingdale has relocated to be based with world silver medallist Gareth Hughes in Warwickshire.
“He arrived a few days ago,” Gareth told H&H.
“I’ve been teaching Zoe and Elly on ‘Loki’ for the past couple of years and they’ve done a great job. He recently came home to Zoe’s Heartbreaker stud, and when she mentioned that she wanted some help to take him forward in his career this year, I said I had just had a stable come free.”
A graded stallion, Loki is by Lottie Fry’s world championship gold medallist Glamourdale (Lord Leatherdale x Negro) and out of C’Est Fury, a KWPN mare by Sorento. He and Elly have competed successfully to elementary level, with scores up to 78.55%, and also won the four-year-old NEXGEN championship in 2020.
“If Loki and I are a good fit after this trial period, we’ll look at doing some medium and advanced medium this year, with a plan to move up next year,” said Gareth. “For now we are just taking it easy and taking time for me to get to know him.
“It’s interesting to see what of Glamourdale is in him. He’s a big, strong horse and very athletic, and gives me a nice feel so far. His basic paces are very good, with a lovely canter and he looks like Glamourdale too – black and manly, with that Glamourdale face.”
While Loki is in training with Gareth, he will not be standing at stud, confirmed Zoe.
“We have already been inundated with enquiries for this season, however only have a limited amount of frozen doses available on a first-come, first-served basis,” she said.
To date Lestingdale has produced 34 AES-registered offspring, with the oldest born in 2021.
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