PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release - 2 July 2021

Exciting Plans for the Baileys British Breeding Futurity 2021

British Breeding have announced that the Baileys Horse Feeds British Breeding Futurity series for 2021 will offer both virtual and physical evaluations for British bred young horses and ponies in 2021, as well as a range of supporting activities for breeders.

The Futurity series offers independent evaluations of British bred horses and ponies aged from foals to 5-year olds in the disciplines of show jumping, eventing, dressage and endurance.  Entries are assessed by a highly experienced international panel of evaluators and receive a veterinary and nutrition assessment with one of the expert team of vets and a Baileys Horse Feeds nutritionist.  British Breeding have developed a world leading linear scoring system that give breeders detailed feedback, allowing them to make informed breeding decisions going forward. 

The Baileys British Breeding Futurity series will again offer a cash prize to the top breeder in each category.  A small percentage of each entry will go towards this prize fund and awards will be presented at the end of the season. 

The ideal first step in a young horse's career, the Futurity series offers opportunities to qualify for further activities.  Those achieving a score of 8 or above will be eligible for selection for the Futurity Auction for foals to 3 year olds to be held in September. 

For 3-5 year olds there is the opportunity to qualify for the Equine Bridge, a 2-day performance test event for 4-6 year olds to be held in October.

Physical Futurity evaluations are set to return with the loosening of lockdown restrictions, with four dates on offer at popular venues:

23 August 2021 - Richmond Equestrian Centre, Richmond, Richmond DL10 7PL

24 August 2021 - Home Farm, Hothorpe, Teddingworth, LE17 6QX

25 August 2021 - Writtle College, Writtle, Chelmsford CM1 3SD

26 August 2021 - Glebe Farm, Whitestone, Exeter, EX4 2HP

Entries will be restricted in numbers, so breeders are encouraged to book early to avoid disappointment. Physical evaluations cost £90 per entry, with a discount for British Breeding Members Club members.  Videos and photographs will also be taken at the physical events of youngsters aimed at the Futurity Auction.

Following their success in 2020, the virtual evaluations will continue. Initially conceived as a pragmatic solution to the Covid 19 Challenge, British Breeding have recognised that virtual evaluations offer significant possibilities and advantages, making evaluations accessible for breeders in remote locations, and reducing the need to travel foals and young stock if there is no physical venue nearby.

British Breeding Director, Dr Eva Maria Broomer explains, "We learned that video footage can be a very interesting and valuable tool for evaluations, as assessors can slow footage down, pause it, zoom in, and replay it. Using videos and zoom conferencing has enabled us to continue to offer one of the great benefits of the Futurity, which is to have British bred young stock evaluated by a panel of senior and highly experienced and respected international evaluators".

For those with 3-year old eventers and show jumpers, there is no option for virtual loose jumping evaluations of using videos taken at home for safety reasons. However, the organisation is working with several appropriate, well equipped indoor venues around the country where breeders can take youngsters for a safe, supervised loose jumping video session. Venues include Brendon Stud in Sussex, Catherston Stud in Hampshire, Heritage Coast Stud in Suffolk and Ladykirk Equitation and Stud in Scotland.  A full list of participating venues is available on www.british-breeding.com. 

Judging of the virtual evaluations will run for 4 weeks from 19 July until 15 August and entry will cost £66 with discounts for members. 

Futurity entries will open online on 1 July at www.british-breeding.com, or call 01903 891637 for further information. 

ENDS

For more media information, contact Rachael at Holdsworth PR, rachael@holdsworthpr.co.uk, or call 01903 892060.

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Editor's Notes:

Further information on associated British Breeding events:

Futurity Auction

Following its excellent reception last year, the online auction for the very best Futurity entries will be repeated. The auction will be hosted again on the Clip My Horse platform.  "We are confident that we will be able to build on our success in 2020, with a full plan of exciting promotional activities to bring our wonderful British bred Futurity foals and youngsters to the widest possible audience", said Eva Maria Broomer.

Like last year, entries wanting to be considered for auction selection have to obtain an overall score of 8 or above either in the virtual or in the physical Futurity evaluation.

Different from last year, all auction candidates must also attend a photography and videography session to produce high quality promotional materials. These will be offered at the physical Futurity evaluation venues and open to candidates who have attended and scored highly at either the virtual or physical Futurity.

Equine Bridge

British bred youngsters aged 3-5 are again invited to come forward for Futurity evaluation to gain qualification for the Equine Bridge.   3-year-olds will be able to qualify loose, 4-year-olds will be able to qualify loose or under saddle, and 5-year-olds will have to qualify under saddle.   To qualify, they must achieve a score of 8.0 or above.

The evaluation will consist of a veterinary evaluation, to be carried out either virtually or at the physical evaluation venues, and an evaluation of gaits and conformation by the international panel. For loose evaluation, candidates are invited to submit videos or attend one of the physical evaluation venues. For ridden evaluation, we invite videos taken at affiliated competitions with British Dressage, British Showjumping or British Eventing or the NexGen Series. Please ensure that the videos show competition footage in walk, trot, canter, as well as jump for eventers and showjumpers.

All Bridge candidates who qualified loose must have experience of competing under saddle prior to coming forward to the Equine Bridge, and need to have completed a minimum of two competitions, either at affiliated competitions with British Dressage, British Showjumping or British Eventing or the NexGen Series.

The next Equine Bridge event is planned as a two-day performance test at Home Farm, on 25^th - 26^th October 2021. The top scoring Bridge entries in each discipline will be awarded with a £1000 bursary aimed at supporting the horse's or pony's training and production for the sport.

Training and Other Opportunities

British Breeding also welcome anybody wishing to participate in the Futurity to come and learn more about young horse evaluations. Again this year, all British studbooks are being offered the opportunity to carry out mare gradings at Futurity venues. Young Breeders are welcome to shadow the evaluators and become involved in helping with the presentations for our auction videos and photographs.

Eva Maria summed up the ethos of the Futurity series, "Together, we can continue to make the Baileys Horse Feeds British Breeding Futurity the event we all love: a world class series, organised by breeders, for breeders and extending a warm welcome to everyone".