Taking place in the glorious sunshine today at Bicton alongside the International Horse Trials were the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse (DBYEH) classes for four and five-year-olds.
The DBYEH series is a hugely popular competition that culminates in the final held at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials in September. The competition is widely recognised as a great opportunity to see the stars of the future, with many winners of the series going on to win top-level competitions. The series aims to encourage breeders and trainers to produce and present the type of young horse which is considered to be the best material to make a world-class three-day event horse.
The judges look for an athletic, loose moving horse with a promising jumping technique and the correct attitude. The winner is the horse with the highest overall marks from four sections: Dressage, Jumping, Suitability & Type and Potential to Gallop.
At Bicton today, Nick Gauntlett saw great success taking the win in the four-year-old class with The Advance Party and took sixth place with Party Classics. His winning horse, out of Kinard Clare, by Nick’s stallion The After Party, Nick’s Irish-bred stallion showed huge promise for the future. Nick also took tenth place in the five-year-old section on Rosa’s Party, a mare by Party Trick (DHI Party Piece by Chilli Morning) who Nick sadly lost in tragic circumstances in 2021.
Not only is Nick a successful event rider, Fellow of the British Horse Society and British Eventing Master Coach, but he also runs a stud from his base at Chescombe Farm, from which he bred Jalapeno III, the ride of Gemma Stevens who came a commendable sixth place at Badminton Horse Trials this year. This gives Nick a fantastic opportunity to produce young horses to enter into these DBYEH classes with some outstanding breeding lines.
Taking the five-year-old class by storm, New Zealand event rider, Samantha Lissington not only won the section on Avatar, but also achieved impressive third and seventh places on Nadal and Never Know MB respectively. BGS Saphire also gave Sam a fifth place in the four-year-old section, providing great success for the two winning riders across both classes.
Sam commented, “I was very pleased with today’s efforts! This was Avatar’s first competition outing, he’s got a lot of quality so we were thrilled that the judges rewarded him for it.
My other two five-year-olds were great – Nadal has a super temperament and ticks all the boxes. Never Know MB is such a gutsy mare and she’s just starting to learn about this dressage business! BGS Saphire is a new ride for me, having only sat on her a few times this week it was more about getting to know each other today but I’m looking forward to the rest of the year ahead with her – thanks to Becky Davies for trusting us with her!
The Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse series is such a wonderful opportunity to get the next generation out and about, and it’s always exciting looking around the warm up and imagining what these horses might be like in the years ahead!”
Nick Gauntlett with The Advance Party – Winner of the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse four-year-old class
Samantha Lissington with Avatar – Winner of the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse five-year-old class