Emile Faurie’s Grand Prix test on Mrs Porter and Mrs Sawyer’s Rascher Hopes at the 2000 Olympics was a remarkable achievement. The Danish Warmblood gelding was only 9 years old,
only 16hh and had only done his first Grand Prix five months before in April at West Wilts Premier League. Nor was he an expensive purchase but merely a yearling the Danish dealers sent unseen to Hilary Sawyer to replace a horse that reared.
Despite these unpromising credentials Rascher Hopes proved his talent for dressage and enabled Emile to become one of the very few riders under the testing conditions of the Sydney Olympics to achieve a ‘personal best’ score and to extend to five championships his sequence of being the highest placed British rider.
All of this was a great boost to British Dressage, and to Reuters who confirmed before the Olympics a three year sponsorship of Emile Faurie. As the 19th biggest company in Britain with huge global interests it shows the growing importance of the sport that it has attracted one of such stature.
Marcus Ferrar, Reuters director of public relations said: "International dressage involves a combination of precision and presentation that fits well with the way Reuters delivers news and information to our customers."
Reuters are keen to use the sponsorship to publicise that they are much more than the most famous news agency but are also the biggest suppliers of financial information to the financial markets and are beginning to make an impact on the private investor market.
All six of Emile Faurie’s horses will be ridden under the Reuters prefix, a new horsebox is being built and the financial support must help him produce more of the performances that boosted British pride in Sydney.
Image by Dirk Caremans