British Breeding - eventing champions

[Springs]

Being looking at the data for the coming British Eventing Young Horse Champions on the horses entered and thought I'd share some of the basic information;

40% of the 4yo are British Bred
29.5% of the 5yo are British Bred
29% of the 6yo are British Bred
37% of the 7yo are British Bred

One or two stallions have a higher ratio of runners compared to others but considering there age and number of coverings that should be expected but also notable are the youngstock of some very popular stallions that are missing.

The 5yo class with 29.5% being British Bred - out of the29.5 % 28% have been presented at the futurity and scored higher second and above premiums.

Food for thought!

 

[popsdosh]

As I said in the other thread it just shows the waste of time the futurity has been up to now .I know a lot of good breeders who really cannot be bothered and let their horses results in competition speak for them. In my view it is for that reason that we see so few british bred horses coming through to top level we have never learnt the lessons from others. The futurity has not been fit for purpose and to many vested interest have influenced things. A few years back for example a very fashionable stallion at the time had their progeny all over the futurity in the eventing sections ,the truth was those doing well were from top mares that had been leased in for marketing purposes even then these have not really gone on to do anything although they tried hard .It seemed like anything by him was the best thing since sliced bread. There is one of them that won the championship and has ended up as a broodmare having never competed and was lame ,not only that but how crazy is breeding from her. I suspect some will even though not naming him know the sire im talking about. I dont hear him mentioned much nowadays.

 

[chipbutty]

As I said in the other thread it just shows the waste of time the futurity has been up to now .I know a lot of good breeders who really cannot be bothered and let their horses results in competition speak for them. In my view it is for that reason that we see so few british bred horses coming through to top level we have never learnt the lessons from others. The futurity has not been fit for purpose and to many vested interest have influenced things. A few years back for example a very fashionable stallion at the time had their progeny all over the futurity in the eventing sections ,the truth was those doing well were from top mares that had been leased in for marketing purposes even then these have not really gone on to do anything although they tried hard .It seemed like anything by him was the best thing since sliced bread. There is one of them that won the championship and has ended up as a broodmare having never competed and was lame ,not only that but how crazy is breeding from her. I suspect some will even though not naming him know the sire im talking about. I dont hear him mentioned much nowadays.

I reckon I know which stallion you mean. I didn't use him, but someone I know did on a very good mare. Nothing has come of the youngster to date.

 

[TheMule]

The futurity did have a big overhaul and I believe it has been a more robust process the past couple of years, although there are many obvious weaknesses sithin the system. I maintain it's a nice educational outing for a young horse and the comments can be helpful. Of course a mature young horse that is a an attractive type is going to score higher than a weaker, less developed but ultimately more athletic animal- the sort of athleticism that isn't necessarily proven until it progresses in its training.
But no-one is forcing anyone to do the futurity series. It's not that expensive in the gand scheme of things and it isn't harming anyone or any horse. It is a marketing point, if nothing else but to get photos of an outing and I'm sure some people benefit from that. It's still attracting some of the top breeders in the country and I'm sure they must see some benefit in it

 

[chipbutty]

thanks for that Springs, you made me go have a look, that's half an hour I'm never going to get back !!

So, for those interested, the stallions that are represented the highest would be :

1. Graf - more so across the 4/5 year old classes, but does have a few in the older ones. ( no surprise really as graf was really promoted in the UK quite heavily about 6 years ago, with a fair amount going through the futurity.

2. ARS vivendi - a good spread across the older age groups

3. Heritage Fortunas

4. Cevin z

5. Harlequinn

An interesting one that popped up a few times was Zambesi, a particular favourite of mine

 

[Alec Swan]

…….. I maintain it's a nice educational outing for a young horse and the comments can be helpful. ……..

I'd add to that; for those doting owners who manage to remove their biased spectacles, which we know isn't always the easiest thing to do :wink3:, the Futurities are also a useful opportunity for the attending breeders to compare their own youngsters with those of others.

Alec.

 

[Springs]

thanks for that Springs, you made me go have a look, that's half an hour I'm never going to get back !!

So, for those interested, the stallions that are represented the highest would be :

1. Graf - more so across the 4/5 year old classes, but does have a few in the older ones. ( no surprise really as graf was really promoted in the UK quite heavily about 6 years ago, with a fair amount going through the futurity.

2. ARS vivendi - a good spread across the older age groups

3. Heritage Fortunas

4. Cevin z

5. Harlequinn

An interesting one that popped up a few times was Zambesi, a particular favourite of mine

Sorry about that.

I have only ran the data for the 5yo and the British Bred for the BE website so expanding it was useful. Graf has had around 114 youngsters presented at the futurity so allowing for the none presented he could have in the region of 200 to 250 youngsters so I'd agree that the number qualified is representative of the number on the ground, But they still have to have talent and a good rider as the 4 and 5 classes are very competitive.

What's also interesting are the ages of some of these stallions with most of them getting on in life. I was also surprised not to see other stallions like Ramiro B being represented by any youngstock.

 

[Springs]

I'd add to that; for those doting owners who manage to remove their biased spectacles, which we know isn't always the easiest thing to do :wink3:, the Futurities are also a useful opportunity for the attending breeders to compare their own youngsters with those of others.

Alec.

I would agree that the futurity is a super place for an educational outing.