Potential dressage and eventing youngsters featured strongly at the first of this year’s Baileys Horse Feeds/British Equestrian Federation (BEF) Futurity evaluations – a nationwide scheme for the assessment of youngstock.
The top five scoring youngsters at the evaluations – held yesterday (10 July) at Catherston Stud, Hampshire – scored elite premiums, with two from the disciplines of dressage and eventing and one from showjumping.
Seventeen higher firsts were also awarded, 11 of which went to dressage youngstock.
The evaluators at Catherston – Katy Holder Vale, Jo Dixon and Bridget Parker – were impressed at the consistent quality of the horses entered and were unanimous in their opinion of the potential of the five horses awarded elite premiums.
Top score of the day went to the two-year-old Missile Hit, owned and bred by Amy and Cath Blount. The bay gelding earned a score of 9.14 and is a potential eventer by the stallion Deanes San Ciro Hit, who was competed by rider Sam Griffiths. He is out of Missile Data by Tehran Missile.
“I wasn’t expecting much from him, we had two horses entered for the Futurity and I thought that he was the weaker one,” said a thrilled Amy.
A filly foal, Platinum Born This Way, scored an elite of 9.1 in the dressage section. She is by Benetton Dream, out of Davinia (by Don Davidoff). Platinum Born This Way is owned by Louise Davies and bred by Axel Windeler Horse Breeders.
Ms Davies had a successful day as her colt foal Platinum Royal Romance, another potential dressage horse, scored an elite of 9.04. He is by Classic Royal out of Twilight Zone by the showjumping stallion Mondriaan.
Colt foal Lawmens D, another potential eventer, gained a score of 9.07 for owner and breeder Claire Mills. He is by the Treliver Decanter son Lawmens Diago out of KWPN mare Wiganita, by Rubiquil.
The top showjumping young horse of the day was Kannanball, owned and bred by Karen Niklasson, earning an elite score of 9.04. He is by Kannan – who is fourth on the BEF Futurity all disciplines all time sire rankings – out of Brise de Maupertuis by Perval.
For more information visit www.britishbreeding.org