Let's kick up our heels and go at 'Le Lion' - Ireland's Declan Cullen presents Keonan Hero for the 7YO Championship
The FEI WBFSH World Breeding Eventing Championships for Young Horses is always a bit of a mouthful so the name it is known by, Le Mondial Du Lion or, even better for brevity, ‘Le Lion’ is a blessing for journalists (like horses called Tom, Jack or anything monosyllabic but that is unlikely to be the case this week)
With the first horse inspection done and all horses passed, we now start the competition that will see two champions crowned on Sunday – the Six Year Old and the Seven Year Old World Young Eventing Horse Champions. The results at Le Lion are also significant as they present a snapshot of the developments in horse breeding and the strength of the various breed societies for the sport of eventing
Those who don’t follow the eventing circuit may wonder what Le Lion stands for; quite simply it is the name of the host venue, the National Stud Farm of Le Lion (Le Haras Du Lion) near the French city of Le Lion d’Angers, about two and a half hours south west of Paris.
The Oudon and Mayenne rivers meet here to form the Isle-Briand, 160 acres of lush vegetation which hosts the National Stud and it is also the home base of one man you will want to keep an eye on this weekend, Thomas Carlile
Tom Carlile and Casino Du Delta
French born Tom Carlile may have his family roots in Manchester, England but he is a French champion through and through, especially here at Le Mondial du Lion. In 2013 Tom did the double, never done before or since, winning the 6YO Championship on board the stallion Tenareze (now with a bit less tackle and competed by Harry Meade) and the 7YO Championship on Sirocco du Gers, who went on to win the CICO3* at Boekelo in 2014
Surprisingly Tom’s superstar Upsilon didn’t win here in 2014 and 2015, coming fifth and second respectively in the 6YO and 7YO Championships (although he did win the French Young Horse Championship at Pompadour in 2014) and last year Tom finished third here in the 6YO class on Birmane and in 2016 was fourth on Vassilly De Lassos
Does that name ring a bell? Yes, the young horse competed by Andrew Hoy that finished in an impressive fourth place at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon this year. I guess you’re getting my drift about the importance of these Young Horse Championships on a world stage ……..
So, who will Tom be riding at his home venue of Le Haras du Lion this week? In the 6YO Championship he is one of three French representatives (horses need to be selected by their Federations to compete here) with Casino Du Delta and in the 7YO he is on board Birmane.
The mare Birmane has had three international starts since finishing third here last year and has added a second place at Millstreet CCI2*, third at Le Pin au Haras in the CIC2* and fourth at Pompadour CCI1* while Casino Du Delta won the CICYH1* at Jardy and took fourth in the CICYH1* at Pompadour. Definitely ones to watch …………
Bloom des Hauts Crets presented by Andrew Hoy
Talking of Andrew Hoy (who told us more about sourcing Vassilly De Lassos from Tom here), the Australian eventing legend has a stable full of talented young horses at the moment. He has brought another French horse, Bloom des Hauts Crets, who joined his team early this year and according to Andrew she is “the most wonderful mare with outstanding talent, movement, jump, ability, graciousness and character – a real “stunner”!”
They are the only Australian competitors in the 7YO Championship but Chris Burton and Kevin McNab are here with horses in the 6YO class.
Kevin McNab and Grantstown Joules
Kevin McNab has had a recent boost to the coffers winning the Horse Sport Ireland Eventing Challenge and he has brought the Irish Sport Horse mare Grantstown Joules and the German bred mare Emotion II
Chris is riding Coup De Coeur Dudevin, a horse we first saw at South of England International this year where they started with a good dressage score of 29.2 then cantered around the cross country for sixth place but at Le Pin au Haras, one month prior, they finished on their dressage score of 29.9
Chris Burton and Coup De Coeur Dudevin
Like Tom Carlile, Chris is a past winner here riding Fire Fly, the 6YO Champion in 2016 and they both have an uncanny knack of producing young horses, but they are not the only ones - there are several other past winners here and Izzy Taylor’s Monkeying Around is one of those
Sarah Bullimore's 15.2h Corouet is the British 7YO Young Horse Champion
Last year’s 6YO Champion, Monkeying Around has won the CIC2* at Floors Castle and the Open Intermediate at Gatcombe International this year but she will have some hot competition from her fellow Brits in this class including Laura Collett’s Calmaro and Sarah Bullimore’s Corouet, both coming off impressive results recently.
The little pocket rocket Corouet won the 7YO British Young Horse Championship at Osberton and Calmaro came second to them but won the Open Intermediate at South of England International just prior to that. Laura is another past winner here, with Mr Bass in 2015, and both ladies are also on a bit of a roll with a very successful season having put them into the top 20 riders on the World Rankings
Michael Jung and Choclat present for the 7YO Championship
In fact, Britain has a host of talent in both classes here and we haven’t even talked about the many other nations here, including of course Germany and its past champions, Michael Jung and Ingrid Klimke. But no doubt we’ll be mentioning them a lot in the coming days so stay tuned ……
The USA's Liz Halliday-Sharp has two very talented young horses to watch out for, Cooley Quicksilver (7YO - above) and Cooley Moonshine (6YO)
