New sponsorship deal for The Urban Equestrian Academy, plus the latest partnership news
Global rug and equine product brand WeatherBeeta has signed a sponsorship deal with ground-breaking social enterprise The Urban Equestrian Academy.
The Urban Equestrian Academy (pictured, top), was established in 2017 by FR33DOM Zampaladus and aims to improve social and racial diversity through the UK’s equestrian industry.
“The team here at WeatherBeeta are passionate about ensuring all people have access to the sport of equestrianism, and therefore we are incredibly excited to be supporting The Urban Equestrian Academy, who aim to open doors that have not been visibly present before in the equestrian world,” said WeatherBeeta’s social media and brand executive Rebecca Marshall.
Mr Zampaladus added: “We are super excited to be partnering with such a well-respected equestrian brand and extremely grateful for the support that WeatherBeeta is providing us. As a social enterprise we rely entirely on the kindness of sponsors, donors, investors and funding as well as the contributions from our service users. This sponsorship will go a long way to helping our community grow”.
St James’s Place Wealth Management
The Cheltenham Foxhunter has been rebranded amid a sponsorship renewal to “make it clearly synonymous with the Festival”.
The Foxhunter Chase, established in 1904, is often referred to as the “amateurs’ Gold Cup” and is one of the oldest races at the Festival.
The race’s full title has replaced “Foxhunter” with “Festival” and will now be known as the St James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Steeple Chase.
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
“Both the racecourse and the sponsor wanted to make the race clearly synonymous with the Festival while protecting its heritage, including the important hunter chase race designation and hopefully we’ve done that,” a Jockey Club spokesman told H&H.
The spokesman confirmed Aintree will keep the “fox” in its title of the Randox Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase.
St James’s Place Wealth Management has renewed its brand sponsorship at Cheltenham racecourse up to and including the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.
“The extended three and a quarter mile chase was previously run as the St James’s Place Foxhunter Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase and the updated race title is intended to strengthen the race’s identity as being a fundamental part of the festival, while respecting its rich heritage as one of the leading hunter chases in the sport,” added the notice announcing the sponsorship renewal.
Ian Gascoigne, managing director for St James’s Place Wealth Management added: “We have been a proud sponsor at Cheltenham racecourse for a number of years and are delighted to continue our support of a flagship event in our local community.
“Cheltenham Festival provides the opportunity to reach a large audience and the team continuously offer St James’s Place a fantastic experience.”
Ian Renton, regional managing director for the Jockey Club, said the organisation is “extremely grateful” to St James’s Palace for extending its generous sponsorship.
Spillers
The equestrian feed brand has been signed up as a sponsor for the National Equine Forum (NEF).
Spillers will be be directly supporting the NEF special webinar “The Great Weight Debate (equine)”, to be held online on 27 January as well as the main event on 4 March 2021 via MARS Equestrian.
“We are extremely proud to support the National Equine Forum, both individually with Spillers’’ support for ‘The Great Weight Debate’ and through MARS Equestrian’s sponsorship of the main event,” said Clare Barfoot from Spillers.
“The NEF is a highly regarded and popular annual occasion. With its immense success in bringing the equestrian sector together to share knowledge and harness ideas to support our nation’s love for the horse it reflects MARS Equestrian’s and Spillers’ ethos as proud partners in care.”
In other Spillers sponsorship news, Oxfordshire-based event rider Max Warburton has signed a sponsorship agreement with the brand.
The partnership came about with the support of the Windrush Equestrian Foundation and Max’s string will be fed on the Spillers range and he will also have access to nutritional support from the company.
“I’m delighted to become part of the Spillers horse feeds team,” said Max, thanking the foundation for its help in the deal. “The feed is of such great quality and [MARS Horsecare competition nutritionist] India Thomson has been so helpful in organising feed plans, virtually, for our wide range of horses.”
Dengie
The feed company has announced a new partnership with Writtle University College as its official fibre feed provider.
The news is an extension of the collaboration between the two companies, which goes back years, and Dengie will also be working with the academic team on research areas and feeding trials.
“We were looking to secure a partnership with a company that shared our enthusiasm and vision for the physical supply of feed to both our bespoke sports horse stud and equine training and development centres, along with helping to facilitate and enhance the student experience and learning opportunities along the way,” said Writtle University College equine resource manager Dan Cook.
“We are very much looking forward to working together and to the opportunities the partnerships will afford.”
Custom Saddles
Dressage rider Melissa Chapman, founder of Team Chapman Equestrian, has joined forces with the saddle manufacturer in a new sponsorship deal.
The agreement means Melissa is supplied with Custom Saddles products for her own horses and gives her a partnership with an expert saddle fitter and manufacturer.
“I am over the moon to be sponsored by Custom Saddles, having admired them for years and been incredibly impressed when I started riding in them these past 12 months,” she said.
“The quality and fitting service is second to none; the horses are so comfortable in the saddles and I can see a difference in their topline development already. They are also so comfortable for me, something that is essential as I spend many hours a day in the saddle.”
Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade to access our H&H Plus online service which brings you breaking news as it happens as well as other benefits.
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.