Some of the happy Graf Liberty Syndicate at Blenheim L-R Anna, Nick and Sally Humpston, Chris Burton, Jill Martin and David Webster
Behind every great horse and rider there is quite often a team of unsung heroes. From the grooms to the coaches and the vets to the sponsors, there is no denying that it takes many dedicated people to get a combination ready for a championship event. Most riders will quite happily admit that one of the most integral parts of an eventing team is of course their owners. After all, without such support, they would have no horse to sit on.
Ownership can take place in many forms and Australia’s Chris Burton is fortunate enough to have a group of owners who have taken over the seriously talented Graf Liberty (Danny) in the form of a syndicate. Jill Martin, David Webster, Sally and Nick Humpston and Ian and Kathryn Timmis have joined forces to support Chris and ‘Danny’ as they tackle the top levels of eventing.
Jill’s husband David is an Aussie and the pair first met Chris at a barbeque in Australia before he moved out to the UK.
“At the end of 2011, we came back to England to live and Chris had moved in about 35 minutes down the road from our house so, missing all the Aussies, I went down to see him and it really started from there” Jill says. Talk of ownership began in 2012 when Chris already had Danny.
Jill and Sally are always ready to lend a hand and love the 'behind the scenes' involvement Photo courtesy David Webster
Sally Humpston is a good friend and neighbour of Jill’s and whilst they have both owned their own horses, they have never owned event horses.
“Sally and I were out riding when I mentioned it to her and, much to my surprise, she said yes.”
The Graf Liberty Syndicate was complete when Chris invited Ian Timmis to join the syndicate, which officially came into being at the beginning of August 2012.
“We’ve both followed eventing for many years – too many years,” laughs Jill. “However we’ve never actually be involved in ownership but forming the syndicate gave us the opportunity to actually do it and it’s just been huge fun.”
“Owning is where you really get to the heart of the matter and having a good relationship with the rider, having a fantastic horse – it’s just been really, really wonderful for us all,” Jill says. “It’s a lovely way as well to become more involved in the sport and really seeing it from behind the scenes.”
A successful detour to Pau led to a win in the 2012 CIC**
Danny has had quite a successful start to his career already. The abandonment of Le Lion d'Angers (the FEI World Eventing Championships for Young Horses) in 2012 meant a quick change of plans to re-route to the CIC** at Pau. Chris and Danny took out that event, finishing on their dressage score. In 2013 the pair came second in the 8/9 YO CIC*** class at the Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials, where an unlucky rail was all that prevented them from the win (see the video below). They consistently score brilliantly in the dressage and their cross country record is flawless. However Jill firmly believes that there is much more to owning a horse than success at competitions.
I’ve had as much enjoyment from Danny competing at Novice level and watching him come through the levels” she says “That’s given me as much pleasure as when he recently represented Australia at the WEG test event; it’s just been a ride, a huge fun ride.”
Sally was originally cautious about the idea of entering into a syndicate when Jill suggested that she went down and met Chris. “I’d already just turned down a friend who was just trying one boozy evening to get me into her syndicate for racing and I said absolutely not,” she remembers “Then I met Chris and I saw Danny and that was a completely different kettle of fish!”
It is amazing how being part of a syndicate can bring people together and create a passion for a sport that perhaps was not once there. “I have a completely non horsey husband,” Sally said after the show jumping at Blenheim Palace “But he’s here, he’s watching, he’s into it!”
Even Sally’s 26 year old son who happened to be living down the road from the event in Pau, France got involved. He had previously had nothing to do with horses, however he went along to the event and basked in the glory of the 2* win whilst keeping the rest of the syndicate up to date on Skype back home in the UK.
The syndicate’s final share is made up of Ian and Kathryn Timmis. “Ian Timmis is the other share holder and he’s been a client of mine for many years, he was a client of mine back in Australia - probably one of my most long standing clients,” Chris says.
Ian Timmis thinks that the syndicate experience has increased their enjoyment of the sport
Ian has found the syndicate to be a very positive experience. “Syndicates make event horse ownership more accessible with the costs of running a horse being spread between a small or large number of people. I think it's fair to say that being in a syndicate, rather than sole ownership, has increased our enjoyment as well as supporting a sport we all enjoy and I would highly recommend it,” Ian says.
Chris has achieved a huge amount of success since moving to the United Kingdom and whilst this has clearly been down to his own hard work, it would not be possible without a strong team around him. “I‘d like to say how grateful I am to find myself in this lucky situation, not only to have a nice horse and be helped along by these supportive owners but to have lovely people around at the same time is perfect, I must be the luckiest rider around.”
After the riding, there is always time to enjoy the social side too! Photo courtesy David Webster
The Graf Liberty syndicate is made up of both British and Australian owners, a combination that has the potential to be controversial when it comes to championship events. However this is not the case with this group of people. Indeed Sally admits that it is actually quite nice as the Australian eventing world is much smaller and more cohesive, meaning that you can get to know a little bit more. Jill knows the Australians are very friendly and doesn’t have an issue with foreign ownership (although being married to an Aussie she possibly has to say that!).
“I know for a fact that there are some owners who in this country are very patriotic and will only have their horse with a British rider,” Chris says. “But there are so many people that love owning a horse for whoever rides it, even though they’ll represent a different country at the championships level, but there’s more to it than just the championships.”
It has been a fantastic season for the Graf Liberty Syndicate, who have been able to enjoy all of the advantages of owning an event horse. There is no telling what the next few years will hold but there is no doubt that Danny has a very promising future backed by some very loving and fortunate owners.
Article by Emily Penney
