Mount St. John Sweeps 2016 British Dressage Championships

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2016 British Dressage Championships

Mount St. John, Great Britain's leading breeding station for high performance dressage horses based in Felixkirk, swept the 2016 British Dressage National Championships at Stoneleigh Park, with its team capturing no less than three national titles. Mount St. John mares claimed the champion sashes in the Advanced medium, Novice and 5-years old classes. In the 5-year old finals, Mount St. John horses achieved a historic feat finishing first, second and third.

"Dreams really do come true," said Mount St. John owner Emma Jane Blundell, adding that "it was a truly unbelievable week."

Mount St John ruled the roost in the 5-year old division. Under Lucinda Elliott, MSJ Top Secret (by Totilas x Dacaprio) is one of MSJ's first homebred mares and won the first round of the 5-year old class but switched place with Mount St John VIP (by Vivaldi x Donnerhall) in the finals after test-riding by German Eva Möller to give Top Secret the reserve champion position. Mount St John VIP also went onto win the Novice Gold title on a whopping 76.88%. Elliot also steered Mount St John Furstin Fugger (by Furst Heinrich x Weltmeyer) to a third place finish in the 5-year old finals. They went on to score 72.7% and finish 4th in the Novice Gold.

Charlotte Dujardin on Mount St. John Freestyle Mount St John De la Beaute, ridden beautifully by Emile Faurie, finished 4th in the hot Intermediaire I class on 71% and at only 8 years old finished in 7th position on 70.42% in the Prix St Georges. "De la Beaute continues to show so much talent for the future," said Blundell.

Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin became the Advanced Medium Champion on Mount St John Freestyle (by Fidermark) with 78.82%. They scored 74.53% in her second ever Prix St Georges becoming Reserve Champion. At only 7 years old she was the youngest horse to compete in both these classes.

Blundell is eagerly awaiting the 2017 foal season with the 22 foals expected from some very special combinations. Mount St. John is also pushing boundaries and working with the latest technologies for equine reproduction. MSJ breeding manager Sarah Cookson accompanied three of the yard's special mares to undergo OPU (ovum pick up) as part of MSJ's new ICSI programme at Utrecht University Equine Reproduction Department in the Netherlands.

Mount St. John foals "We always try to use the latest technologies in equine reproduction to produce our pregnancies to be carried by recipient surrogate mares and are currently trialling what we think will be the main commercial reproductive technique for sport horses in the future," said Blundell. "This is still a process which is being refined before it becomes totally commercial but we are excited about its possibilities and keeping our fingers crossed to have some viable embryos from this oocyte harvest."

Mount St. John focuses entirely on its mare base and all colt foals are sold. Blundell gives eager dressage enthusiasts the opportunity to buy exceptionally bred young dressage colts from her exquisite breeding programme as well as a selection of fillies. Foals available for purchase include MSJ Gryffindor (by Governor x For Compliment x Dacaprio), MSJ Bloomberg (by Bordeaux x Don Gregory x Symbol) and MSJ Nanaimo (by Negro x Quarterback x Samba Hit), amongst others. View the full sales list here.