LOCAL HORSE GAINS TOP PREMIUM AT THE BEF FUTURITY

Local horse breeder, Victoria Leggett of Broughton, Northampton gained a higher first premium with her young horse at the Baileys Horse Feeds/ British Breeding/British Equestrian Federation (BEF) Futurity held on the 14^th August at Vale View Equestrian Centre, Leicestershire.

The filly foal, Tamasha Exclusive Edition bred and owned by Victoria took home a higher first premium of 8.71 in the eventing section. A higher first premium indicates that the horse has the potential and outlook to perform at national level.

The BEF Futurity Evaluation series aims to identify British bred young potential sport horses and ponies destined for careers in dressage, eventing, showjumping or endurance. It may even find the stars of the future who will go on to compete at World Championships or become Olympic Champions.

Tamasha Exclusive Edition's owner and breeder, Victoria Leggett plans to bring, Boris, as he is known at home on to do riding club activities and showing. Victoria said: "I am thrilled at how athletic Boris is, I have known his dad, Bathleyhills Justified since he was a small and have wanted a foal by him since." Boris' dam, Willowmenabusiness has proved to be a prolific mare for Victoria. She has bred several outstanding youngsters for Victoria over the years including the elite Futurity scorer, Strictly Dun Dancing (Langwedh Sunny Jim x Perspectief) who is now five and is being produced as an FEI jumping pony. Willowmenabusiness has also bred several other youngsters that have scored highly in the Futurity and are now out competing with great success.

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 2017 Futurity evaluations run nationwide from the 14^th to the 30^th August.

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.

ENDS

For further press information, please call Jenny Viner on 01903 892060 or email jenny@holdsworthpr.co.uk

Picture: credit Kevin Sparrow.

Editor's Notes & FurtherInformation:

The BEF Futurity started in 2005 with 100 young horses to be evaluated and will see over 600 in 2017.

The Futurity is open to British bred horses and ponies, from foals through to three year olds. Each horse or pony is entered into the discipline it is bred to perform in and the four main disciplines of dressage, showjumping, eventing and endurance are covered. Each horse or pony undergoes a vet's assessment and is then evaluated in hand and loose in an indoor school. Three year olds entered into either the showjumping or eventing sections will be required to loose jump.

An evaluation process to identify talented equine athletes early and to provide a comprehensive set of results and other information for all breeders to make informed breeding decisions is called-for in the 2005 Strategy for the Horse Industry in England and Wales atwww.bhic.co.uk

Visitwww.britishbreeding.orgfor full details and results.

Futurity dates and venues 2017:

Monday 14th August Valeview EC, Leicestershire

Tuesday 15th August Richmond EC, North Yorkshire

Wednesday 16th August Myerscough College, Lancashire

Friday 18th August The College - Keysoe, Bedfordshire

Saturday 19th August Writtle College, Essex

Monday 21st August Tall Trees Arena, Cornwall

Tuesday 22nd August Hartpury College, Gloucestershire

Wednesday 23rd August Solihull RC, West Midlands

Wednesday 30th August Catherston Stud, Hampshire