By Hillevi Brasch / SWB
Photography: Roland Thunholm
Autumn is the time when young horses in Sweden gather to compete for the Breeders Trophy titles across the different age-group categories. Founded over 30 years ago, the Breeders Trophy is an exclusive competition for breeders showcasing their horses.
Breeders enroll their foals into the Breeders Trophy system at registration, and the horses then compete for a prize pool when they are four, five, and six years old.
Breeders Trophy
The event started with the eventing competition, held in September over the beautiful cross-country course in Össjö, near Ängelholm in southern Sweden. The four- and five-year-old horses competed in a condensed version, where the dressage phase was immediately followed by the showjumping, after which the horses continued on to a shortened cross-country course. Two judges judged all phases, and the pair with the highest score won. This is an excellent concept for young horses and is also spectator-friendly, as all the phases and obstacles can be viewed from one spot.
This year’s judges were the highly experienced Angela Tucker from the UK and Gerd Küst from Germany. Eventing is not a significant discipline in Sweden, where showjumping dominates, and the four-year-old field of 18 participants was the largest of the day.
In this age-group, Can U Handle This Biz (Canterbury x Business x), ridden by the breeder and owner Johanna Öst, claimed victory. Johanna had previously ridden and competed with the dam, It’s Just Business, who finished third in the six-year-old WBCYH eventing championships. Can U Handle This Biz is of the third generation of this family’s breeding program.
In second place was Christoffer Forsberg riding the mare Gloria (Giovanni-Bell x Deodoro, bred/owned by Anneli Wilken), followed by Aria Ramkali in third with her homebred, sporty Gamelina (Gamelus R x Tornesch), bred/owned by Aria and Sarah Ramkali).
In the five-year-old class, two national team riders topped the podium with what could well be future stars. Piccadillys Core HG (Comthago VDL x Narew xx, bred by Henriksdals Gård AB, owned by Malin Asai), ridden by Malin Asai, claimed victory, repeating their win from last year.
In second place was A Star is Born Vuo (Click and Cash x Be My Chief xx, bred by Camilla and Robert Mäntyvuo, owned by C. Franzén, M. Johansson, A.C. Petersson, and Elfte Huset AB), ridden by Niklas Lindbäck. Both pairs finished with the same total points, but with a higher score in the cross-country phase, Piccadillys Core HG came out on top. Piccadillys Core HG received an impressive 9.5 for his cross-country abilities... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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