Peta Pegley of Kudahs Sport Horses near Sleaford owns and bred the joint highest scoring jumper at Vale View. Filly foal, Kudahs Mayfly (Sir Shutterfly x Puissance) took home a higher first premium of 8.80. Peta bought her dam, Able Coin from Harthill. She said:
“I bought the mare as a liked her bloodlines and they will fit in well with my breeding programme. Kudahs Mayfly is for sale, she is bred to jump and is a very brave and friendly foal.”
Kathleen Walsh’s filly foal, Diarista (Diarado x Contendro 1) also took home a higher first premium of 8.80 in the jumping section. Kathleen bred Diarista’s dam, Calista, who gained an elite Futurity premium as a youngster. Kathleen, from Leicester said:
“Calista has been competing at advanced and 2* level eventing with Ros Canter. She then injured herself last year and so we decided to put her in foal. We had Calista’s mother too, she was a grade B show-jumper and evented.”
Also attaining a higher first premium at Vale View in the jumping section was Mandi Meer’s colt foal, Arrathornes Alderaan (Ballinmore Irish Rebel x Armstrong) with a score of 8.75. Mandi from South Normanton was thrilled with the result, she said:
“We knew the foal was good, and we are so excited with this result. Evaluator, Chris Hunnable said that Alderaan has a ‘huge future’”.
Mandi owns Alderaan’s class 1 Irish Draught registered sire Ballinmore Irish Rebel who is also the only Irish Draught stallion registered with Breeders Elite in the UK.
Whixall resident, Eva-Maria Broomer’s colt foal, Freudentanz (Fransje x Distelzar) scored 8.75 in the dressage section. Freudentanz’s dam, Distelprix has been a prolific mare for Eva-Maria. She bred Wunderkind (Woodlander Wild Child x Distelzar) who scored an elite premium of 9.40 as a foal in the 2015 Futurity and Silver Lining ZB who is licensed with the British Warmblood Society and the Oldenburgs.
Top of the sports ponies at Vale View was Victoria Legget’s eventing pony, the yearling, Tamasha Golden Ghost (Bathleyhills Monet x Langwedh Sunny Jim) with a higher first premium of 8.71.
Victoria from Walgrave said:
“We brought Golden Ghost to the Futurity last year when he was just 5 weeks old. He has grown up a lot in the past year and we are very pleased with his score.”
Victoria bred Golden Ghost from her pony mare, Strictly Dun Dancing who attained an elite Futurity premium and went on to take 3rd place in the Futurity eventing final at Osberton.
Tamasha Golden Ghost has also been out in-hand showing with Victoria and he has had wins at the Royal London Horse Show and Equifest.
Heading the endurance entries at Vale View was Davina Godwin’s three-year-old colt, Red House Valentine (Al Hudaydah x Ali Khaziel) with a higher first premium of 8.63 in the endurance section. Red House Valentine was bred by Dr G von Tevenar.
Davina from Doddington said,
“We are really pleased with the mark awarded to Red House Valentine. Futurity evaluator, Jo Claridge said she will be ‘looking forward to his future career.’”
Davina is planning for Red House Valentine to stand as a stallion at stud. She added:
“I would like him to compete in all the ridden disciplines – not just endurance. His half-sister, Azalea is a very successful show horse.”
The Futurity is a continually evolving process, 2013 saw the introduction of the Futurity equine bridge which is now being run as an extension of the Futurity evaluations. The Futurity equine bridge provides top Futurity graduates with the direction and support they will need as 4 year olds so that they begin their early years under saddle in a way that allows for sustained physical and mental development. In order to be eligible for the Futurity Equine Bridge all horses must obtain a Futurity score of 8.5 or above and a high enough vet score in the in their three-year-old year.
The BEF’s Head of Equine Development Jan Rogers said,
“We are increasingly noticing that breeders, buyers and riders of British bred horses are finding that a Futurity premium is a very useful aid in helping assess these horses. We are also seeing a marked improvement in the standard of youngsters entered in the futurity, which is very good news for the future of British breeding”.
The 2016 Futurity evaluations will run from the 15th to the 31st August, covering 11 venues nationwide with a total of 12 days of evaluations.
Futurity scores are used by many breeders as a credible marketing tool for their young horses, adding value to a young horse whilst it is still too young to have achieved a performance record. For more information, visit www.britishbreeding.org.
