Jan 11
Lauriston awarded Leading BEF Futurity Showjumping Sire
& Other excitement at the British Breeders Awards Dinner 2011.

The annual British Breeders Awards Dinner was held on Saturday 8th January at The Grange City Hotel, London. We were delighted to attend in order to collect the coveted Leading Showjumping Sire Award for our stallion Lauriston. This award recognises the stallion with the highest average progeny performance record for potential Showjumpers in the British Equestrian Federation’s Futurity Series of 2010.

Lauriston’s progeny have excelled in these evaluation series for some years now. He was sire of the 2006 Reserve Champion yearling Auriston Elite; sire of 2008 Overall Winning three year old Classictop Notch & sire of 2009 Elite Premium Sports Pony yearling Delaroche Laureve. In fact, Lauriston is currently the top ranked BEF Futurity stallion over all years and all disciplines.

The second cause for celebration at the Awards Dinner was Classictop Lancelot (Lauriston x Renkum Meranta) winning the BEF Futurity 2010 Leading Foal prize. Lancelot was bred & is owned by our good friend Jane Townshend. However, he was actually born here with us at Delaroche Stud. His dam Renkum Meranta is one of our long-term boarding broodmares. Meranta is a very special mare being out of the same dam as Irish International Jumping stallion Ringfort Cruise. Meranta & Lancelot returned to Jane’s East Sussex yard in August in order to attend the BEF evaluation at Plumpton College. Not only was Lancelot highest marked foal for the 2010 BEF Futurity series but he was actually the highest marked youngster in the entire 2010 series, having been awarded an incredible 9.46! We are looking forward to the arrival of a 2011 full sibling here at Delaroche stud – it certainly has big shoes to fill!

Finally, to add perfectly to the evening’s excitement our good friend Henk Minderman was awarded the Equestrian Edge Meritoire Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Breeding. Henk is founder of the world-renowned Renkum Stud and The Anglo European Studbook. He is an ardent supporter of British Breeding and this award was given primarily in recognition of The Anglo European Studbook & it’s achievements. The Anglo European Studbook is currently ranked 10th in the World Breeding Federation for Sports Horses studbook rankings for Showjumping and 4th for Eventing.

Personally, we have much to thank Henk for; he imported Lauriston & eventually gave in to my pleas & sold him to me. Many other British Breeders & Studs similarly have a lot to thank him for. It was fantastic to be present to see him receive this award along with the recognition, praise & thanks, which he so rightly deserves. It was also great that we managed to get him to the Awards Dinner under totally false pretences. The whole thing was a complete surprise, the look on his face when realisation hit was absolutely class!

(Lucy, Henk and Jane at the Awards Dinner)

Oct 10
DeLaRoche Birthday Girl is 4yo winner at SPSS Young Pony Dressage Championship. The 2010 Sports Pony Studbook ‘Young Pony Dressage Championships’ were held last Sunday at Vale View Equestrian Centre, Nottinghamshire. We are delighted to report that DeLaRoche Birthday Girl won the 4-year-old class & went on to be Reserve Champion all ages....Read More