The 4-year old Top Red, the 5-year old LE Chiffre and the 6-year old Rosewater I Claudius becale the champions of their age division at the 2012 British Young Dressage Pony Championships held on 30 September 2012 at Bury Farm Equestrian Club. Fifteen ponies in three age related sections competed on the day and the 4-year old Top Red (by Top Yellow x Pilgrims Red) was declared overall champion.
The 4-year old Top Red is bred by Sarah Steggall in partnership with a friend, and is now owned by Steggall and Elaine Coleridge Smith. Top Red carries successful performance lines on both side of his pedigree, his sire and damsire both being German "Bundeschampions" and his sire also competed as an international dressage pony. Top Red was backed and produced by Alice Perry of Windmill Farm; however, as Alice had a second four year old entered, her trainer, Linsay Coleridge Smith, competed Top Red on the day. Alice did present Top Red at the previous day's SPSS stallion grading where he was also Champion. German grading judge, Hans-Heinrich Bruening, said he considered Top Red to be a "top pony stallion" and also a "prospective international dressage pony" and this proved prophetic when Top Red became the 2012 Young Dressage Pony Champion. Top Red not only gained the highest score recorded in the three years that this championship has been running but is also the first Champion to be British-bred. Showing how British Sports Pony breeding is improving, the next three ponies in the overall results were also British born and bred.
The British Young Dressage Pony Reserve Champion was the winner of the 5-year old division, LE Chiffre (by Caesar x Donnerwetter). This SPSS passported and graded stallion is bred by Beverley Brown and owned and ridden by her daughter Samantha. LE Chiffre's sire, the SPSS Elite graded Caesar 171, is a past Pony European Championships Dressage Team medallist and a popular sire. Indeed, four of the ponies entered for the dressage classes were by Caesar. 2012 has been a great year for LE Chiffre. In his first year of competing, he has won both Elementary and Medium classes and qualified for the British Dressage National Championships at Elementary Open level where, ridden by Becky Moody, he was the only entrant under 16hh and one of only two five year olds.
Third placed overall was another 5-year old pony, the British bred gelding Johnny Cash, ridden by Fern Roach and owned by Noah Springall. Johnny is a SHB(GB) registered pony by The Bay Briar (TB) out of Macy Gray (New Forest) and was bred by Mrs C Springall. In 2011, as a four year old, Johnny was Reserve Champion ridden by Phoebe Peters as Fern, who had been producing Johnny as an event pony, broke her collar bone two weeks before the show. That Phoebe and Johnny did so well when Phoebe had only ridden him a few times was testament to Fern's work and it was great that Fern was fit and able to present him herself in 2012. A versatile all rounder, Johnny Cash also competed at the P(UK) Burghley Event Pony Championships with Fern in 2012 and with her older sister Poppy deputising in 2011. As Fern is too old for ponies at the end of the year, the ride on Johnny is being taken over by her younger sister, Jasmine, and they are entered in the SPSS Young Eventing & Jumping Pony Championships at the end of October.
The winner of the 6-year old pony class was the SPSS graded stallion, Rosewater I Claudius. "Claud" is owned by his breeders, Rosewater Stud's mother & daughter team, Sarah Eberle and Lucy Northcott and was ridden by Samantha Brown. Samantha used compete Claud's sire, the SPSS Elite graded dressage pony, Caesar 171 and is currently producing Claud for his owners. It is hoped that a suitable pony rider will be identified for him through the new mentoring programme, The Equine Sports Academy (T.E.S.A).
Special mention goes to the youngest rider at the competition, 11-year old Emma Bond. Emma was third in the 4-year old division riding her mother, Jane Bond's, pure bred Morgan gelding, Monnington Fresco. Bred by Monnington Morgans, Fresco is by the multiple World Champion Morgan, HVK Bell Flaire out of Monnington Artiste (by Monnington Verdi). Emma has backed and brought on Fresco herself with the help of her trainer, the late Laura Fry. This competition was the first time that Emma had competed without Laura's help and all agreed that she did very well in a class in which the majority were adult and professional riders.
Full results from the event can be found on the SPSS website - www.sportpony.org.uk/dressage
Text by British Dressage, edited by Eurodressage
Photos © Hannah Owen
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