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Star of the day was Scobie (The Navigator) (pictured right) who has not been out since Boekolo but who won his section in the Open Intermediate with a score of 30.90. Owner Frances Smart will no doubt be well pleased with his performance.

A Zarah was second in the Novice Regional Final on a score of just 30 and Rovello III (Stanley) also gave a good performance in the same event, finishing 11th on 34.4. Nicole Pearson’s Shelter Cove (Cassie) did her first Intermediate and managed eighth in her section; she will be running again this weekend at Little Downham.

The Aston-Le-Walls event was called off from Tuesday last week because of the weather but organisers managed to stage the competition over Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Lucinda will be out in force at Houghton International at the end of the month, with Navigator and Flying Finish doing the three-star and Rovello and Shaunlara Clover abbey, ridden by groom Emz, in for the CCI*.  Headley Britannia’s foal Millie (Little Brit) will make her debut in the young event horse competition at Houghton.

Now in its 27th year,  Saumur has mixed memories for Clayton, who had a triumphant win on Ben Along Time in 2006. Two years later, however tragedy struck when his horse Nullarbor collapsed and died on the course. Last year, Bendigo’s owners Edwin and Peta McAuley were there to share Clayton’s triumph as their horse  became the winner of the Saumur CCI*** event after a four-day drama culminating in a clear showjumping round.

Edwin and Peta McAuley, who had travelled from Hong Kong for the event, had never seen their horse compete – but afterwards they were invited up to the victory podium with Clayton. More about last year’s win here.

For many of the riders Saumur offers a last chance to qualify for the upcoming London Olympics. Organisers are promising a great weekend and the cross-country will be streamed on the official website as in previous years.

We will be covering the event here but updates as they happen will probably appear on our Facebook page first , so it’s well worth checking out (and while you’re there, please ‘like’ the page! ) The official Saumur event website is also worth a look. The CCI*** preview can be seen, with more info about last year’s TF win.

The embryo transfer procedure allows breeding from mares by using a surrogate mare to carry the foal.   The procedure involves inseminating the donor mare with fresh, chilled or frozen semen of a stallion of choice around the time of ovulation to create an embryo. At 8 days old this embryo is non-surgically flushed out of the donor mare’s uterus and placed into a suitable surrogate mare, which carries the pregnancy to full term. This allows the donor mare to continue competing and/or undergo further inseminations if desired. In fact the mare can compete throughout every stage of embryo transfer providing geography allows.

Headley Britannia has already had successful embryo transfers. Brit produced two foals by embryo transfer in 2008 which are now part of a foal syndicate: Little Britannia and Britannia’s Mail were sired by the stallion Jaguar Mail as well as another foal, Ruby by Grafenstoltz.

See our full press release, with contact details, for more on this story. You can find out more about Brit and her amazing career here.

Team Fredericks preferred company for embryo transfer is Beaufort. Find out more about embryo transfer at Beaufort.

The cancellation of this year’s Badminton Horse Trials because of a waterlogged course  meant Team Fredericks  had to change its plans – but Clayton and three top horses are feeling good after a great performance in the CIC3* at Jardy, France which saw Bendigo take first place and Walterstown Don third. Be My Guest had been running third after cross country but dropped back to 14th place after a disappointing showjumping round.

Following the Badminton decision it’s still not clear what decision will be made on Headley Britannia’s retirement – a formal ceremony was due to be held at the event this weekend – but Lucinda told us she would be considering the options over the next days.

A very speedy decision had to be made to compete at Jardy – especially as the unpredictable weather might yet spell problems for Chatsworth – but Clayton has secured entries for Bendigo, Be My Guest and Walterstown Don. We’ll keep you informed as things happen.

Picture – Clayton and his three winners just before the trot-up at Jardy.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the cancellation of Badminton is a disaster for the wider horse industry, though it does not throw Olympic selection plans into total disarray. Clayton also plans to compete at Saumur , with Be My Guest and Walterstown Don.
 

Clayton, interviewed after Haras De Jardy- thanks Agence Pixizone