Shane Breen was delighted to win the La Baule Derby on a horse he bred, sold and bought back again.
Shane and 10-year-old Scarteen jumped clear to take the title on Saturday (10 June), a second and a half ahead of Frenchman Julien Gonin on Caprice de Guinfard.
Shane bred the Cardento gelding, then sold half of him as a five-year-old, to Marianne Schindele of Austria. She produced him up to 1.50m level – then Shane bought his half back three weeks ago.
“I took him to Hamburg a week later and he was second in one Derby qualifier and third in the other,” Shane told H&H. “Then we went to Wiesbaden, and he was clear in two classes there, then to La Baule and he was clear the first day, then won the Derby. I think he’s going to be a really super horse.”
Shane said he had not initially thought Scarteen would be a Derby horse, but the horse is proving his versatility.
“He’s very scopey and careful, so much versatility and such jump; you could put him into whatever you want,” he said. “I’ll do a bit more with him, get him a bit more familiar with walking down banks, and possibly put him in for the Hickstead Derby too.”
Shane and 17-year-old Can Ya Makan will defend their Hickstead title on 25 June, which will be the 17-year-old stallion’s fourth trip round the famous course.
“He knows it so I imagine with a bit of luck he could possibly jump clear again,” Shane said. “It would be Scarteen’s first time but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he jumped round and was clear.”
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