Shearwater & 7YO Semi-Finals: young horses show promise at Port Royal

The second Shearwater and BD 7YO semi-finals were held at Port Royal in Yorkshire (23-24 July) and there was strong competition for a place in the finals, which are held at the LeMieux National Championships at Somerford in September.

Sarah Millis and Nemesis Glamourdale’s Star (pictured above) threw down the gauntlet for the five-year-olds with a score of 9.06, while Becky Moody and Jagerbomb’s 8.58 in the seven-year-old class must make them a favourite combination going into the Nationals.

Nemesis Glamourdale’s Star is owned by Isabella Furno and the Glamourdale x Bon ‘A Parte gelding has only been with Sarah for five weeks for training. His owner bought him as a four-year-old from the Oldenburg auction.

“Even in a short period he’s gained strength and fitness,” commented Sarah. “He’s got three very nice paces. He tracks up well in the walk and his hind legs are well under in the canter. He’s still green so his leg yield was a bit wobbly but overall he showed himself nicely and coped well with the test.”

Sarah will have two rides in the finals as she also qualified Mandy Flint’s Catherston Tiffany (Timolin x Sir Donnerhall I) in the six-year-old class.

Becky Moody’s seven-year-old homebred Jagerbomb (pictured above) is by Swedish Olympic team horse Dante Weltino out of a Jazz mare. When she qualified for the semi-finals at Myerscough Premier League it was the first time ‘Bomba’ had taken part in young horse classes. “I didn’t do young horse classes before with him as he wasn’t the age class kind of horse,” explained Becky. “He’s not a massive mover and it’s taken time and training to develop his expression. He gains marks because he’s good in the test and is technically strong.”

The four-year-old winner was Jenny Martell riding Mount St John Stud’s MSJ Dezirable (pictured above). She was benefiting from boss Amy Woodhead’s absence at a wedding to take on the ride, and also grabbed another qualification place in the five-year-old class on MSJ Royal Standard.

The grey mare is by Desperado out of Emma Blundell’s ride Keystone Diaz (by Dimaggio.)

“We broke in ‘Delilah’ and we’ve done all the training with her,” said Jenny. “She’s only done one show before to qualify so it was a brave performance from her. She trusted me and gave me a brilliant ride. I just had to sit quietly and allow her to show her beautiful paces.”

Melissa Chapman has owned her six-year-old winner TCE Koning (pictured above) since he was a three-year-old. ‘Yogi’ had been left in a field to fend for himself so arrived weak and thin. Hard work has brought the 18hh to top form and he has had a raft of top three placings in the last 12 months.

“I looked at the entries and thought we would be making up the numbers as it’s a tricky test for him as he’s not experienced at medium level. There was some shooting noise as we began our test but he was brilliant. He’s a lovely person but can be super-sharp under saddle. He excites and terrifies me in equal measure, though to be fair I haven’t fallen off him for a long time!

“The National Championships are a bit of an ask for him but it will be brilliant experience.”

Melissa also qualified TCE Jubilant Al Sno in the seven-year-old class.

The first two horses in each class qualified for the Finals at the LeMieux National Championships in September. Good luck to all of them.

Top-three results

Shearwater Young Dressage Horse 4yo
1. Jenny Martell and MSJ Dezirable, 8.12
2. Jezz Palmer and St Giles Dark Magic, 7.94
3. Melissa Chapman and Majesteit TCE, 7.92

Shearwater Young Dressage Horse 5yo
1. Sarah Millis and Nemesis Glamourdale’s Star, 9.06
2. Jenny Martell and MSJ Gold Standard, 8.50
3. Anna Burns and Lancelot BS, 8.14

Shearwater Young Dressage Horse 6yo
1. Melissa Chapman TCE Koning, 8.22
2. Sarah Millis and Catherston Tiffany, 7.94
3. Bryony Goodwin and SJL King, 7.60

British Dressage Young Horse 7yo
1. Becky Moody and Jagerbomb, 8.58
2. Melissa Chapman and TCE Jubilant Al Sno, 8.10
3. Thomas Bobis and Woodcroft Jamais Noublais, 7.18

FULL RESULTS

Photo © JFI Photography