Dressage
at Devon Announces North American Breeders Futurity ChampionshipWith
Prize Money in Excess of $20,000
Classes
will take place at the 29th annual Dressage at Devon, September
23 - 29
Devon,
PA—April 30, 2003—Dressage at Devon 2003 will be the
venue for the first ever North American Breeders Futurity Championship
Finals for Five and Six Year Old Horses. The new classes are the
result of a collaboration between the Dressage at Devon committee,
the ISR Oldenburg Registry and the Federation of North American
Sport Horse Registries (FNASHR). A warm-up class will be held
on Thursday, September 25, offering a fitting bridge between the
Breed Division of the show, which ends on Thursday, and the Performance
Division of the show, which begins on Friday. The championship
finals will be held midday on Friday, September 26.
The
classes were developed to put more emphasis on the training of
young horses in North America, where many feel young horses are
not supported. “The horses bred in North America are now
up to the quality of those in Europe,” says Ekkehard L. Brysch,
President of the ISR Oldenburg Registry North America and one
of the instigators of this program. “This raises the question
of why these young horses are not as successful as they are in
Europe. Why are we not making horses here instead of importing
them from Europe?”
In
the late 1990s a series of measures were developed to help encourage
training and competing of young horses to help breeders sell their
progeny. While there are more classes for young horses now than
in the recent past, they are often not as well attended as they
could be. The ISR Oldenburg N.A. and the FNASHR are making efforts
to make these classes more attractive for trainers, riders and
owners to compete in. One of the incentives being used is money.
The
North American Breeders Futurity Championship Finals for Five
and Six Year Old Horses will be open only to those horses bred
in North America, and will include prize money in excess of $20,000,
an unprecedented amount in dressage competition. The purse will
be divided, with the top four horses in each class receiving a
percentage of $5000 in prize money. In addition, there will be
an additional $5000 purse for the top four horses in each class
who fulfill the futurity criteria. This prize money will be divided
between those who nominated the winning horses for the NABF and
the breeders of these horses.
Horses
will qualify for the championship finals based on two or more
scores from qualification classes held between January 1 and August
31, 2003. The average of the two highest scores will be used to
determine the eight horses competing in each class. Thursday’s
warm-up classes will also provide an opportunity for up to four
horses that have not qualified to compete in the championship
finals. These contenders, up to two in each class, will need to
achieve a score equal to or higher than the average that was sufficient
for regular qualification in Friday’s championship finals.
The
class is being funded this year by the ISR-Oldenburg N.A. and
a supportive group of its members on the occasion of our 20th
anniversary says Brysch. “We really wanted to get this started
this year, and are willing to fund the classes this year as a
gift to the North American breeding world.” He expressed
confidence that in the future the program would be carried by
the Federation of North American Sport Horse Registries and its
member organizations.
More
information about the North American Breeders Futurity Championship
Finals for Five and Six Year Old Horses and the nomination requirements
can be found at www.isroldenburg.org/NABF.htm.
Dressage
at Devon is the highest rated international dressage competition
and most complete breed show outside of Europe. Olympic medallist
Robert Dover calls Dressage at Devon “the standard by which
all American horse shows should be judged.” Dressage at Devon
takes place at the Devon Horse Show Grounds, Route 30, in Devon,
Pennsylvania. For information, call 610-358-5785 or go to www.dressageatdevon.org.
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