By ANSF
Photography: ANSF
The Saint-Lô Stallion Exhibition concluded two days ago, and so ended the suspense about the result of the three-year-old Selle Français stallion championship. It was a new look to this championship which took place for the first time during the Saint-Lô Stallion Exhibition, but let’s rewind and relive three glorious days.
Friday, February 21
This 2020 edition of the Saint-Lô̂ Stallion Exhibition began under the colours of red, white and blue, and a 100% Selle Français day, when the first horse entered the arena at 9:00 a.m. to kick off the three-year-old SF stallion championship. Seventy males were presented to judges until half-way through the afternoon, when the Saint-Lô equestrian centre’s huge arena hosted the free jumping, ahead of breed characteristics and gaits in the Gourmette arena.
The expert commission’s decision saw 25 stallions approved, who will go forward for testing next December. The top eight of these 25 were only announced by their crownpiece number, to maximize the suspense.
This championship day was created to encourage and reward the use and enlistment of young Selle Français genetics in order for the studbook to evolve. Prize winners were rewarded by Prime Genetique Avenir during a special ceremony honouring: Elevage du Thot, Mathilde Lebouteiller, Pierre Couilloud, SCEA du Vinnebus, GAEC de l'Abbaye, EARL la Gollerie, Patrick Blouet, SCEA de l'Oiseliere, Claude Charnay, Jean-Luc Lebourgeois, Georges Lepetit, Henriette Evain, Yves Chauvin, Earl du Chatellier, Ecuries d'Outremer, Haras de Semilly, and Hubert Lebrun.
The Friday evening show saw the Masters L’Eperon class which saw eight four-year-old and 12 give-year-old stallions competing to win their respective categories. The best-graded stallion at last December’s testing, Good Pleasure Semilly (For Pleasure - Betty Boop Semilly x Diamant de Semilly, bred by Richard Levallois), won the four-year-old test, while the talented five-year-old Fahrenheit de Vains (Cornet Obolensky - Ismene du Thot x Qredo de Paulstra, bred by Christian Bihl) who won his age-group class.
The class intermission provided an occasion to look atSelle Français history, which honoured the work of Jean-François Pellegrin, owner of the exceptional Galoubet A. Monsieur Pellegrin was one of the first to use artificial insemination and largely influenced the evolution of French breeding. It was an emotional time as he watched a big screen showing the 1982 Galoubet A tour, under the saddle of Gilles Bertrand de Balanda. Pascal Cadiou, president of the Selle Français studbook, presented Jean-François Pellegrin with the book Anthologie des sports équestres: Depuis les Jeux olympiques de 1912 jusqu'à nos jours (Encyclopedia of equestrian sport: From the 1912 Olympic Games until the present day), as well as a bottle of champagne bottle from partner Charles De Cazanove... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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