Colt Foal Earns the Highest Ever Futurity Premium
Photography by Kevin Sparrow
The 2016 running of the Baileys Horse Feeds/British Breeding/British Equestrian Federation (BEF) Futurity saw some very high scoring endurance youngstock. The highest ever Elite Premium for endurance was awarded to a colt foal owned and bred by international rider, Chris Wray. An Elite futurity premium indicates that the horse has the potential and outlook to perform at international level. Endurance evaluators for the 2016 Futurity were Jo Claridge and Rosemary Attfield.
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| Kamili |
Colt foal, Kamili (Shuawaiman Al Rais x Zawadi by Cloud Stepper) took his Elite Premium score of 9.25 at the Hartpury event. A delighted Chris said: “This result is just fantastic; I was stunned to discover when I got home from Hartpury that Kamili has gained the highest score ever awarded to an endurance horse. Evaluator Jo Claridge said Kamili is extremely nice and has great potential.”
Kamili, which means ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’ in Swahili, is the latest in a line of horses bred by Chris and his mother, Monica Hutchings. Chris said: “When I was growing up, my family moved to Kenya for around 10 years. When we returned in the late 70’s my mother bought a grey Arabian mare and she was my riding horse throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Then when the mare was aged 20, my mother put her in foal to the Cremello American Saddlebred stallion Cloud Stepper (Macks Golden Stepper x Bee Bop Of Goldmount), owned by our next-door neighbour Henry Betts at Little Barningham. The resulting foal was Zawadi out of Beauty (Monkhouse x Nutty), the dam of Kamili. Zawadi means ‘gift’ or ‘present’ in Swahili.”
Zawadi’s eldest daughter, Takwenya, by Chatanz (Bonanza x Chatelaine by Klarnet) was selected for the British team for the 2016 World Endurance Championships in Slovakia and Takwenya and Chris were the top British endurance combination in the 2015 FEI world rankings. The next foal bred from Zawadi, a mare named Peponi by Krayaan Dilmun (Maanaghy Nadeem x Kray Manifa), took the 2015 British Novice Endurance Championship with Chris. He is hoping that she will go on to be a contender for WEG in 2018.
Chris continued: “I am 61 now and so I am hoping that Kamili will be my final endurance horse throughout my 70’s and into my 80’s. Kamili is by a son of Krayaan Dilmun, Shuawaiman Al Rais, and I am hoping he will be a bit smaller and quieter than Peponi.” Chris’ younger sister, Melanie Blake, has moved back to Kenya and has set up a mental health charity over there that she called Kamili, and suggested this name for the colt. See a video of Kamili at Hartbury here: https://youtu.be/x_ZpVF4Twjo
Jane Marson of the Heritage Coast Stud in Norfolk earned a Higher First Premium of 8.88 with her yearling colt, Heritage Vadel at the Writtle event. Jane bred Heritage Vadel from her third generation homebred mare, Heritage Silver Delaney (Khamil x Sulina by Silver Scenario). Jane said: “We are very excited about Vadel, he will stay entire and will be backed and compete in dressage and showjumping before going on to have an endurance career when he is six or seven. His sire, Vadeer (Mamluk x Viola by Naftalin), has become a very successful endurance sire with medallists at both WEG and the European Championships to his name, including the Spanish team horse, Straw Blade out of Florich (Manich x Fleur Rouge by Fari II), and Carri-Ann Dark’s successful horse, Va Va Voom out of Vahana (Djou Said x Valse Du Cassou by Baroud III). Heritage Vadel has one full brother, a previous futurity entrant, Heritage Superman”.
Rebecca Cross’ two-year-old, Future Inferno by H Tobago (Psytadel x Teeba by Gonorar), took the best score of 2016 for his age group. He gained a Higher First Premium of 8.83 at the WrittleCollege evaluation day. Future Inferno was bred by Julia Hodkin of Future Sport Horses. He is out of Future Illicit Affair, a daughter of The Outlaw (Criminal Law x Demon Spring by Demonstrator) and Classic Fayre (Brianstan Zipper x Copper Fair by Fair Glendhill); she is in the SHB GB Head Stud Book and has won broodmare championships at county level showing.
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| Seren Sarella |
Another Team GB endurance rider, Karen Jones did very well too; her two-year-old filly, Seren Sarella (Winged Saint x Seren Hanita by Hanson), bred by Dominic and Jan Atkinson of Seren Arabians in Cumbria, scored a Higher First Premium of 8.80 at Tall Trees Arena in Cornwall. Karen said: “I am over the moon with Sarella, it is the first time I have been to the futurity and she was brilliant. She is a very nice little horse and I have competed some of her family so I am really looking forward to riding her in a couple of years. The horses bred by Dom and Jan Atkinson are big boned horses that have lovely movement and can do any job. I went up to their stud in Cumbria to buy a horse called Seren Hanau (Hanson x Shadowed Gold by St John) and bought Sarella too.”
Karen recently won the 130km Cirencester Endurance Ride on another horse by Winged Saint (El Santo x Silver Blue Wings by Silver Blue), Treasured Moonbeam out of Silvern Treasure. He is aimed at the 160km Red Dragon Ride at the end of the season.
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| Cumbria New Dawn |
Colt foal, Cumbria New Dawn, took a Higher First Premium score of 8.71 at the Richmond futurity for Tom Walling and Cumbria Arabians in Selkirk. Tom’s girlfriend Fiona Pearson said; “We are just thrilled with the score, this is the first time we have been to the futurity.”
Tom bred Cumbria New Dawn from his Thoroughbred mare, Feminist (Allhaarth x Miss WillowBend by Willow Hour), who won and was placed in flat races. Fiona continued: “We wanted to breed an Anglo Arab foal and used our stallion Cumbria Black Beaujangles (Al Sood x Black Enchantress by Mista Beaujangles). Feminist is back in foal to him for 2017. Cumbria New Dawn is for sale and we are hoping that his good futurity score will attract good competition riders to come and see him.”
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| Red House Valentine |
Davina Godwin was thrilled with her three-year-old colt, Red House Valentine (Al Hudaydah x Red House Kamelia by Ali Khaziel), who headed his age group for endurance entries at the 2016 Futurity Series. Bred by Dr G von Tevenar, he scored a Higher First Premium of 8.63. Davina said, “We are really pleased with the mark awarded to Red House Valentine. The evaluator said she will be looking forward to his future career.”
Davina is planning to stand Red House Valentine as a stallion at stud, and added: “I would like him to compete in all the ridden disciplines, not just endurance. His half-sister, Azalea is a very successful show horse.”
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| Red House Valentine |
Two horses scored Higher First Premiums of 8.50 in the endurance section of the 2016 series. First was Dom and Jan Atkinson’s three-year-old, Seren Sadrh (Winged Saint x Silihah by Silver Fahd). Dom said: “We are planning for Sadrh to stand as a stallion and he will also hopefully go on to have an endurance career. I don’t believe in starting them until they are six as it helps increase the longevity of their careers. Our horses are brought up as herd horses and are left to grow and mature.”
Sadrh will go for stallion licensing with the Arab Horse Society. Dom, who is also a trained Human and Equine Assisted Psychotherapist, uses the horses for his therapy. He said: “As part of the therapy we take people that are both experienced riders and people that have never been near a horse before out onto the hillside to be surrounded by the stallions. It is a wonderful experience and a testament to the stallions’ temperaments.”
At the Reaseheath event, the yearling filly, Malala by Mahaala (Ansata El Salaam x Deserai by Thee Desperado) earned an 8.50 score for her owner and breeder, Sally Mellor from Lydham in Shropshire. Congratulations to all the owners and breeders of successful endurance youngsters that took part this year.
About BEF Futurity
The BEF Futurity started in 2005 with 100 young horses to be evaluated; over 800 were seen in 2016. 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 are required to loose jump.
It is 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, as called-for in the 2005 Strategy for the Horse Industry in England and Wales at www.bhic.co.uk. Visit www.britishbreeding.org for full details and results.
