After debuting at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) in 1994 with a World Cup qualifier, dressage has since become a mainstay at the prestigious indoor show, with the Dressage Future Elite Championship launching in 2013.
This prestigious competition features Britain’s top eight- to 10-year-old horses performing an inter I freestyle test, and its reputation has grown with each passing year.
It’s a great showcase of international stars of the future, and past winners have gone on to championship success. Perhaps none more prominent than 2022 winners Becky Moody and Jagerbomb.
Becky and Jagerbomb were untouchable at the 2022 show, scoring a personal best of 84.84% and finishing over 7% ahead of runners-up Alice Oppenheimer and Headmore Dionysus.
This capped off an incredible breakthrough year for the duo. In April, they’d won all the small tour titles at the Winter Championships. Their international debut came three months later which saw them score a hat-trick of small tour wins. Then, in September, they went on to claim two inter I titles at the National Championships.
“He’s the horse who keeps on giving,” Becky said after her HOYS win. “It’s no secret that as a four- and five-year-old he wasn’t the most exciting. I thought he was a nice horse but nothing more, but he’s just getting better and better.”
Despite Jagerbomb’s spectacular form, Becky never expected him to reach the level he’s at today.
“Everyone knows it’s a lottery with horses,” she said in that same 2022 interview.
“I bred three from his dam and they’ve all been lovely but the first one had an injury and the second was about 12.2hh! You don’t know what you’re going to get and when you get one like this you have to roll with it, and see how far you can go.
“But the Olympics are a no as there are only three spaces and that’s so hard but I’d hope he can be a top grand prix horse internationally, and if we can give them a run for their money, we’ll do it!”
“Having the most fun out of everyone” – Becky Moody and Jagerbomb impressed on their Olympic debut in Paris. Credit: Peter Nixon
But if Jagerbomb has proven anything throughout his career, it’s to never count him out, and the pair went on to impress everyone at the Paris Olympics, taking home a team bronze medal.
Reflecting back on those comments after Paris, Becky told Horse & Hound that she’d probably accepted that getting onto a team was never going to happen for her.
“I mean, I did under-21 Europeans and I was on one of the very first World Class potential pathways in my early 20s, and at that point, yeah, you absolutely dream of going to the Olympics – it’s what every athlete wants to do isn’t it?” she said.
“But with the change from four riders to three on a team, and with the core riders we have in this country all having such an incredible string of horses I knew the possibility of breaking into that team was very, very unlikely.
“I guess I’d hoped maybe a Europeans or a worlds, where that extra team spot gives you a bit more leeway, but I don’t think I even thought that was going to happen until we realised how good Bomb was.
“You realise the more you do this, that you need to have a pretty special horse to be able to get to that level – and that’s what he is.
“I’d had some really talented horses in the past but for one reason or another it just didn’t quite work out. But they’ve all made me the rider I am now and enabled me to go ride Bomb like I did.”
As this year’s Dressage Future Elite Championship competitors prepare to ride down the centre line on Thursday 10 October, Becky and Jagerbomb’s story stands as a testament to the sport’s unpredictability and how hard work, patience, and a little bit of luck can lead to greatness, even when you least expect it.
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