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From a cotton farm to the Olympic Games: meet Milky Way, the home-bred mare at Paris 2024

Martha Terry Martha Terry

    • Australian rider Hilary Scott had already recorded a milestone achievement just in making her Olympic showjumping debut, regardless of the result. She is riding the home-bred Milky Way, a 17-year-old grey mare by Clearway x Jalisco B, at Paris 2024.

    “It’s extremely special to bring a home-bred to the Olympics,” says Hilary, 36, of the mare who is now owned by Alice Cameron. “I never even dreamed of bringing one we actually bred, it’s been a big effort from everyone. It takes a lot of people to make it happen.

    “We bought the mother as a broodmare from France, took her to Australia and bred her to Clearway, and Milky Way was her first foal.”

    Milky Way isn’t the only superstar this dam, Galaxie Piereville, has produced. She also had Constellation, who went to the World Equestrian Games in 2018 and Kosmo, who jumped in the World Cup in Australia. Because of her name, their names are all to do with the galaxy.

    Hilary is now based in the Netherlands, but she grew up in Australia, where she founded her breeding programme Oaks Sport Horses.

    “I grew up on a farm, growing cotton, wheat and sorghum, and I started riding there as soon as I could walk,” she says. “I started out moving cattle round the property, then on to Pony Club and it went from there. I started specialising in showjumping when I was 12.”

    As for Milky Way, this home-bred horse of a lifetime who has already taken Hilary to the 2022 worlds and is now in her late teens, the fairy tale continues.

    “She’s definitely not ready for retirement yet,” says Hilary, who was disappointed to have four down in this team qualifier. “She’s an extremely confident horse with a lot of energy. She loves to jump and that was a little bit the problem today – she’s too eager. Even at her age, she still surprises me.”

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    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

    H&H features editor
    Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
    Martha Terry

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