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4 minute read
Young horses impress at Little Downham in The Howden Way age classes
The hotly contested The Howden Way young horse classes ultimately went the way of Tom Bird and Tom McEwen, at Childeric Saddles Little Downham.
Claddagh Ohio Sebastian and Tom Bird claimed a decisive win in The Howden Way 7-year-old section, the only combination to finish on their dressage score. Tom, himself still a young rider, delivered only one of three Intermediate rounds within the optimum time, helping him to a 14-penalty winning margin.
“I was thrilled with both horses; they always give 100% and really deserved their wins,” commented Tom who also rode eight-year-old Lenny to a win in Intermediate P. “He [Claddagh Ohio Sebastian] has always found the jumping easy and it was the first time I have properly let the handbrake off cross-country so it’s nice to know what he has in the locker, being one of only three inside the time across all Intermediate sections.
“His big aim this year will be The Howden Way Young Horse Championships at Cornbury in September.”
Local rider Bubby Upton finished in second place with her own Sancerre De Tiji who added 16-time to their dressage score to finish on 49.2, while third place went to The Best Syndicate’s Best Escapade and Simon Grieve who completed on 49.3.
Six-year-old
GHS Diamanta, owned and ridden by Tom McEwen, completed on his 30.8 dressage to edge ahead of Emily Philp and Ogino to take The Howden Way 6-year-old win.
The Diarado-sired gelding is being carefully produced by Tom with an eye on the future rather than specific championship goals.
“I don’t really have any plans for him,” said Tom. “He’s going to tick along doing the 6-year-old classes, and if he’s ready we might look at a 2* somewhere. At this moment, Le Lion World Championships isn’t completely the end goal for this year. It’s all about progressing him, producing him and hopefully producing another nice one for the future.”
Second place went to Emily Philp and Sarah Moffat, Jane Moss and Helen Caton’s Ogino, who had led the dressage on 27.8 but rolled a pole in the showjumping to see them finish 1-penalty behind on 31.8. In third was Sam Gillespie, Christine Baxter, Kevin and Sarah Gillespie’s Oxer who, under Sam Gillespie, finished on a score of 34.2.
Event organiser and course designer Tina Ure added, “it was nice to see some quality young horses using Little Downham as part of their continuing education. The feedback from the riders has been incredibly positive in terms of the courses and ground conditions this week, which is a huge testament to the team’s hard work over the past few weeks. It was nice to see these horse’s being ridden competitively and confidently on the ground.”
The series, supported by The Howden Way, is an ideal opportunity for riders to expose their up-and-coming eventers to the atmosphere of bigger venues, while competing against other horses of the same age. The classes offer recognition for the highest performing horses in these classes.
The Young Horse classes take place throughout the spring and summer in some of BE’s most stunning venues with the 6-year-old classes running at novice level, and the 7-year-old classes running at intermediate level. The top three in each class receive an additional £250, £150, £100 respectively on top of the prize money already generated and awarded by the prize money calculator.
For dates of the young horse classes this year, please click here
Alongside these classes, the performance of young horses competing with British Eventing is acknowledged within The Howden Way Young Horse Leagues which can be found here. There are four leagues which cover the ages of 5 years, 6 years, 7 years and then the ages of 8 & 9 combined. The leagues display the average of a horse’s three best finishing scores via a Power Based Average score which highlights the ability to repeatedly finish on a low score.
The 2025 Young Horse Championships take place at Cornbury House Horse Trials in Oxfordshire between 11-14 September. The classes will also benefit those aiming their young horses at the FEI World Breeding Championships at Le Lion d’Angers, which hosts a CCI2*-L World Championship for six-year-olds and a CCI3*-L World Championship for seven-year-olds. Horses identified at the Cornbury House Young Horse Championships are invited to The Howden Way Development Days, and if selected, invited to join The Howden Way Young Horse Academy for the following year.
More details of which can be found here: www.thehowdenway.com/yha
Image courtesy of Action Replay Photography. - Tom Bird and Claddagh Ohio Sebastian