Welcome to Team Fredericks, Official website of Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks

Team Fredericks off to the Palace

Blenheim official site here

Fresh from Clayton's best-ever Burghley - where he and Be My Guest II took third place in the landmark four-star event last weekend - Team Fredericks is currently back in action at Blenheim.

Clayton and Lucinda are contesting the CCI ***event with Prada (pictured left), ridden by Lucinda to first place in the two-star at Houghton this season, eight year old Brookleigh, who was first in the CCI **at Barocca with Clayton in March, and Mr. Miller II, who was first in the CIC **last year at Barocca.

Lucinda and Prada have roared up the placings in the CCI*** at Blenheim after dressage and at the moment are equal sixth on 47.2 with Ruth Edge and William Fox-Pitt leading. Clayton on Brookleigh scored 49.8 and he's dropped to 12th place. On Walterstown Don the dressage result was 50.0. and Clayton is tenth: Brook Staples and Mark Todd lead. Results page on the official site is here.

Clayton has also entered the CIC *** event for eight and nine year old horses on Walterstown Don, who has distinguished himself with first and second places at the South of England and Gatcombe events this season and just recently returned from Malmo with a first place in the CCI two-star.

The Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials is in its 20th year of running and is now firmly established in the eventing calendar.

With the magnificent backdrop of Blenheim Palace - birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill - the dressage phase of the competition takes place all day on Thursday and Friday.

On Saturday the cross-country takes place over fences and water jumps across the River Glyme on a timed course which runs around the palace grounds.

The show jumping finale takes place on Sunday in front of the South Lawn of Blenheim Palace.

Clayton takes Third at Burghley!

Clayton and Be My Guest II took third place at Burghley behind winner Caroline Powell of NZ and William Fox-Pitt.

The third day's showjumping saw Clayton and the 16.2 bay mare jump clear, a superb performance in a tough competition that had its fair share of thrills and spills. Clayton's final score was 45.8.

Clayton told the "Wiltshire Times":

"Third is my best result at Burghley so it means a great deal,” said Fredericks. “I’ve been in the UK for 17 years now and I went to Burghley as one of my very early competitions and it has taken me a long time to learn how to ride round this track.

“All comes to those who wait and keep working so hopefully in a couple of years I might be at the top step of the podium.

“I spent a little bit of time in the lorry to calm myself down because I was a little nervous and it was very tight at the top.

“But once I got on the horse and jumped a few fences and felt she was really jumping the nerves had just turned to confidence and I think we jumped a great round.”

See Howard Lloyd's full report here.

A Good Day at Highclere

Clayton and Lucinda joined other top riders to compete at the Highclere Castle Horse Trials near Newbury, Berkshire over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

The event, the final run-up to Burghley and then Blenheim took place in glorious parkland owned by the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon.

Lucinda and Nysa De Petra were third in the Intermediate after completing on their dressage score of 31.4 . Lucinda was 12th on a score of 43.6.on Flying Finish . Clayton was 10th in the Advanced on Mr. Miller. Dunges Laurent Rose scored 35, Walterstown Don 29, in the dressage and then withdrew and Prada was withdrawn. They will run in Blenheim in a weeks time. Emily Young- Jamieson took 28th place on Darcy Dior in the BE 100 and our working pupil Heloise Nangle,competing on her horse, Shaunlara Clover Abbey, was 25th in the same event with a score of 51.8.

TF's French Collection at Le Pin

Clayton on MR Sydney Rocks was fourth in the one-star on 42.0 , and took 13th place on Mr Big Cat (48.7).

In the CIC 3* Lucinda and Prada finished 20th after a clear round cross country, with 11.2 time faults (63.2). Clayton was just four places behind on Dunges Laurent Rose, with a score of 66.4. Lucinda finished 23rd in the CIC 2* on Nysa De Petra (63.0). Nicole Pearson on The Navigator took 21st position in the CIC* (53.6).

Team Fredericks competed in the 2010 HSBC FEI World Cup™ Event last weekend , at Haras du Pin in Normandy.

Clayton rode MR Sydney Rocks, (pictured left), Dunges Laurent Rose, both co-owned with Tim and Alice Page, and Mr Big Cat, who Clayton co-owns with Deborah Clarke. Lucinda rode Prada, co-owned with Vicki Miller, and Nysa De Petra, owned by John and Elizabeth Allsop. Nicole Pearson was on board The Navigator.

Haras du Pin, fondly called the “Versailles for Horses”, in the Orne county of the Lower Normandy region in France is a new venue for the FEI series, but the magnificent national stud at du Pin has hosted major historic Eventing fixtures, including the 1969 European Championships. The official website of the event can be seen at http://www.legrandcomplet.com/english/

Clayton is the Don at Malmö

Clayton was the winner of the CCI 2** in Malmo, Sweden on Walterstown Don, owned by Michael Lee, Diarmuid O'Brien and Jackie and Peter Wallis recently.

Meanwhile, Lucinda and Flying Finish finished a creditable fifth in the CCI** at the Mitsubishi Motors Hartpury Horse Trials in the UK, at the same time.

Walter" finished 12.2 penalties clear of the second - placed Katrin Norling, ending the event with a stunning showjumping round that looked effortless.

"I really enjoyed riding Walter in all three phases - his dressage was fab, in the cross country he was just a machine and I never felt he would touch a pole in the jumping. This win confirms my feeling, he is a really quality horse and an exciting prospect now he is qualified for the top level." said Clayton.

Brookleigh, owned by Nikki Brooks, had one rail down in the showjumping to finish 8th in the CIC3*** World Cup Qualifier, an excellent result for a young horse making the jump to this level of competition. "Brookleigh performed well in all three phases, jumping confidently around a big Cross Country track. The experience he has gained here at Malmo should set him up well for Blenheim, his next big run", said Clayton.

Be My Guest, a new acquisition for the Palmer family showed that she has fully recovered from her incident at Aachen with a confident display that left her in 14th place in the CIC3*** World Cup Qualifier.

A new partnership at this level, Lottie showjumped a superb clear round that moved her up the placings. "Lottie was spot-on this week. I feel like we are really developing a partnership now and am really looking forward to Burghley", said Clayton.

Clayton had returned to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs for the 10th leg of the 2010 HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing series.

The Swedish seaside town of Malmö is where Clayton won the FEI World Cup Final in 2005, a victory that kicked off a roll of success which was to include Olympic and World silver medals.

Flying Finish Fifth at Hartpury

Lucinda and Flying Finish finished a creditable fifth in the CCI** at the Mitsubishi Motors Hartpury Horse Trials, with a score of 49.4 after a double clear with just six time faults. Prada finished in 35th place in the CIC*** .

Hathor's Grace was not lucky in the one-star despite a clear showjumping round. George Hills on Nostradamus was 55th in a big field with a final score of 70.4. Nicole Pearson, on her new ride All Done II had two stops on the cross country and unfortunately was eliminated in the showjumping.

Some pictures from Saturday with Lucinda, Nicole and George are in our gallery.

Lucinda and Clayton competed at the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park, Goucestershire in early August.

Clayton on Mr. Miller 2 finished in eighth place in the intermediate event, with Lucinda placed ninth on The Navigator. Be My Guest had a nice dressage, scoring 34.9 and jumped clear.

MR Sydney Rocks and Flying Finish were withdrawn after show jumping and dressage on Saturday, and Dunges Laurent Rose was also withdrawn, though not before a very good dressage and a fantastic clear round.

"Syd didn't have the best of runs but, only being a six-year -old, this was a big occasion for him" Clayton told us later. "I was very pleased with Walterstown Don as well as Brookleigh, who jumped a beautiful clear round" he added.

TF at Wilton ...

Team Fredericks was at the Whitehead Vizard Wilton Horse Trials in Wiltshire for the last weekend in July. Lucinda entered Nysa de Petra and Hathor's Grace and Clayton rode Be My Guest, fully recovered after her recent fall at Aachen.

An informal party for owners and friends of the team was held on Saturday. TF's official photographer Tim Nicholls was at the event and 20 of his best photos are in our gallery area.

TF Series 2 is in the can - and you can download the theme tune!

Filming for series two of the Team Fredericks television show is complete, with post-production taking place in for August.

And the theme tune for the series - The Will To Win - has been recorded and is available on itunes for download.

Devizes-based Morris Lane Creative Media began filming at Rosegarth on June 21st 2010 for a new series of programmes looking at Three Day Eventing and rider confidence.

In 2007, the same production company produced the hugely successful first series of Team Fredericks which was, until recently, still being aired on Horse and Country TV (Sky 280). The first serieswas a big international success and helped spread the word about Team Fredericks begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting . It gave simple no-nonsense advice on all aspects of equestrian life and has been hugely popular with horse-loving fans.

As yet nothing has been confirmed, but Team Fredericks 2 will be ready for international DVD release later this year.

The theme song was written by Gavin Courtie, who plays bass in Clayton's band Snatch, and Liz Radford. A version of the song with Clayton singing will be available in due course - he has just completed the recording.

Download the song from itunes

Lucinda and Clayton are confirmed to take part in the Your Horse Live event at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, on November 13 and 14. Organised by Britain's best-selling equestrian magazine, the event will have lots of demonstrations, other top riders and shopping...

Team Fredericks out in force at Barbury

Team Fredericks fielded a dozen horses in total at the recent Barbury International event at Barbury Castle, Wiltshire.

Lucinda and Prada came 26th in the CIC*** but she did better with Flying Finish in the two-star event, finishing in 18th place on a score of 57.3.

Nysa De Petra managed 13th place in the Open Novice on a creditable score of 35.2, and Nicole Pearson's ride The Navigator,was 18th in the CIC**.

Pictures from Barbury taken by Tim Nicholls can be seen in our gallery.

Clayton and Brookleigh had a clear cross country round in the CIC*** but did not manage a placing.

Clayton fared better on Mr Big Cat in the novice, taking second place with 27.6.

Mr Miller 2 was ninth in the CIC**scoring 51.8, MR Sydney Rocks 19th in the Open Novice, Walterstown Don 39th in the CIC**, and Dunges Laurent Rose took 25th position with 46.1 in the ON.

TF Groom George Hills on Nostradamus was 19th in the novice and Sally Potter on Altissimas Palace came 69th in the two-star.

Clayton is pictured on a photoshoot taken by sponsors Toggi at Barbury.

Great Outing at Salperton

Team Fredericks had another successful outing at Salperton recently, with all the horses going well.

Lucinda was thrilled with both her intermediate rides Nysa de Petra and Flying Finish. Nysa de Petra (left) finished 8th with a 25 in the dressage, one unlucky rail down in the showjumping, and a clear XC over a challenging and definitely up-to-height cross country.

Flying Finish also went extremely well in his first intermediate run with a 27 in the dressage, an immaculate double clear in the showjumping but some XC time faults to finish 17th.

Clayton and Brookleigh continued their excellent run of form with a 30 in the dressage and a double clear to finish 6th place in the AI – “he has real star potential” says Clayton.

Clayton also had a good day with the novices Mr Big Cat and Hathers Grace both running well across country with Grace being placed 8th and Mr Big Cat 14th in their respective sections.

Working pupil George Hills and his horse Nostradamus were also present performing with a good dressage and a very bold cross country.

Elsewhere, Nicole Pearson was delighted with Helen James’s ‘All Done II’ in his first competitive run in 3 years, scoring 29 in an immaculate dressage test to finish 3rd in the open Pre-novice at Rackham.

Training at Clearwater Bay

Clayton was at the Clearwater Bay Equestrian & Education Centre in Hong Kong recently to do some coaching.Thanks to Martine Brefort Montagne for the picture and to the others who took part in the training sessions. The CEEC's Managing Director, Nicky Loiterton, is one of our current rider-in-residence Nicole Pearson's sponsors. Their website is here.

Some great horses for sale!

Some of the great horses you have been hearing about over the last few months are for sale.

Flying Finish has to be a serious prospect by any standards. In his first year of eventing, the eight-year-old bay gelding has been to six events with consistent results. See him at Salperton and Barbury this season.

Mr. Miller II, a stunning nine-year-old gelding would be a serious prospect for an experienced rider. Won and placed CIC** and CCI**. Clear Tattersalls CIC***W 2009, he can be seen at Barbury CIC**.

We think Lero Lero is the perfect junior event horse. A Very cute 5 year old, 16.0 hh bay gelding Brazilian TB, he has been clear xc in all his Pre Novice starts. Ready to go on with a serious Junior rider wanting to move up the grades.

More about all of these on our Horses for Sale page.

First outing for Marley - and some sun for the team

Marley - the colt Britannia's Mail - was ridden for the first time this week and members of the team took the chance to get a bit of downtime in the sun.

Marley and filly Little Britannia (Millie) were foaled from Headley Britannia by embryo transfer. The foals are part of a syndicate which offers more people an opportunity to be part of Team Fredericks - read more on our Foal Syndicate Page.

Clayton Rocks....

Clayton pulled on ripped denim and shook out his locks to be snapped dressed as Guns 'N Roses rock legends Axl Rose and Slash and Angus Young from AC/DC for the new German magazine CHIO Aachen.

As the lead singer of rock band Snatch (pictured below at Boekelo last year) in his spare time, Clayton is no stranger to rock and roll, but this time he's been pictured as few will have seen him. See our Facebook page for more.

There's a newly-posted interview with Clayton at the recent event in Saumur, France on our Facebook page.

While Lucinda and Prada are on a Roll!

Lucinda aboard Prada won the two-star event at the Subaru Houghton International Horse Trials in Norfolk, UK.

Ten-year-old Prada, owned by Lucinda and Vicki Miller, finished on her dressage score of 41.4.against stiff competition. 'Hattie', was incredible and led from the start. Having done a lovely test, she was absolutely foot perfect xc, going all the straight ways and finished full of running and then jumped a beautiful show jumping round. The pressure was on, as although Andrew Hoy had a fence down, finishing 3rd, Rodney Powell jumped clear so Lucinda had to be clear to keep the lead. Prada will now head for the CIC 3star at Barbury, together with Brit and hopefully Blenheim CCI 3star in September. " She was amazing in every phase and I feel she is a true potential 4 star winner. She has a lot to live up to considering her best friend, Brit, has won her own Grand Slam of 4 stars!"

Lucinda's other two horses, Flying Finish, [2nd] and Nysa De Petra, [8th] also finished on their dressage scores, and Clayton said he was pleased with his "little mare" Riviera, who did well at her first big event. "All in all it was a pretty impressive weekend" Clayton added.

Houghton International is one of the country's newest International Horse Trials, set in the stunning surroundings of Houghton Hall in North West Norfolk. It's one of the biggest of its kind, in its fourth year, and attracted 350 riders this time.

Both Lucinda and Clayton were impressed with the venue and the organisers. "They worked hard on the ground because we have had so little rain recently and when we got out there we found it was pretty good going" Clayton told us from the venue. For more background see our Facebook page which carries an interview with Lucinda from the local Eastern Daily Press.

Bendigo back to form!

Bendigo is now 100 per cent sound and will be back competing soon.

He missed the recent Saumur CIC**event after a hock injury at Rosegarth shortly before the team was due to leave found him lame. But a few days later he was pronounced back to full fitness.

Eleven year old Bendigo - stable name Charlie - is owned by Edwin & Peta McAuley, who were with Clayton at the Saumur event. He produced three firsts for Team Fredericks at two-star level in 2009 , including Lignieres and Barocca, and again distinguished himself this year at Barocca and Withington.

Said Clayton " We always err on the side of caution and it may be the injury was not as serious as we first thought, but we would not take a horse who was not 100 per cent fit to an event. We are looking forward to seeing Charlie in action again soon" .

Meanwhile, at Rosegarth...

The drama at Saumur may have taken centre stage but things were not quiet at Rosegarth over the last few days - over to Lucinda to tell the story!

"Just to bring you up to date with whats happened at Rosegarth. The guys and girls had a very busy week as poor Emz went home for six days to recover from a nasty chest infection, and I ended up having an unexpected lumbar-epidural [under general anaesthetic], on Thursday, so was not able to ride my usual quota of horses.

I feel like a new woman having had the injection to help with a slipped disc and am looking forward to riding Prada [star], Flying Finish and Nysa de Petra [1star] at Houghton Hall this week.

"Great news from Brigstock when Nicole finished 19th in the CIC 1star on The Navigator thus gaining her first half of her Asian games qualification.

"Having been told to rest up for the weekend, at 5.30am on Saturday I duly took two students, George and Heloise plus my own horse, D DIOR, to Mattingley pre-novice and had a super result finishing 8th with a double clear at the mare's second-ever event.

"George also jumped double clear in the open PN and Heloise did amazing acrobatics to stay on her horse in the sj phase and completed the xc. The team are enjoying the hot weather so its shorts, suntops and suncream on and preparing for a big week at Houghton Hall with seven horses!"

TF placed second at Saumur!!

Clayton and Brookleigh finished second in the CIC **at Saumur, just pipped to the post by French rider Nicolas Touzaint, only one point ahead in a heavily-contested class.

Nicolas last won the event in 2007, one year after Clayton on Ben Along Time took the honours at Saumur.

The result is great news for Brookleigh's co-owner, Nikki Brooks, who has been watching the live coverage of the event from Australia . Nikki joined others on the Saumur website sending congratulations and support to Clayton and Brookleigh on Saturday.

Eight-year-old Brookleigh, owned jointly with Nikki Brooks, had a victory at Barocca, Portugal in March and was fifth in his most recent outing at Aston-Le-Walls earlier this month. With Clayton aboard he has had two victories at Tweseldown and Fontainebleu over the last two years.

Friday's dressage is now available on video, below.

TF win at Chatsworth

Lucinda moved Brit from the World Cup competition to the Advanced section and came second - she also came sixth on Prada in the same event.

"Both horses were brilliant, and Prada was outstanding" Lucinda told us by phone from the event. "I decided to change Brit's event because we are aiming to be selected for the WEG at the end of the season and I felt the ground was a little on the firm side for her , so the advanced was the best option for her first proper run of the season. Brit felt as good as she ever does, so I was very pleased with both of them" she added. Brit's score was 43.30 and Prada 51.90.

M R Sydney Rocks won the Intermediate Novice competition at Chatsworth. The six-year-old bay gelding, owned by Tim and Alice Page, Lady Colman and Clayton, finished with a total score of 33.1. Lucinda on Flying Finish was placed 15th in the Intermediate Novice, scoring 45.1.

Nicole Pearson on The Navigator completed the intermediate novice event with a score of 62.0.

What's getting Clayton so steamed up?

A purpose-built large size hay steamer from 'Happy Horse', it appears...

Team Fredericks use hay steamers at Rosegarth, and asked Happy Horse to build a version that would deal with larger volumes of hay due to the number of animals they have to manage at competitions.

"WE needed the steamers to be light and compact for storage and easy for the grooms to use to make their work easier" said Clayton.

Why steam hay? Using a steamer helps prevent respiratory disease, retains the nutritional value, saves money on haylage and is more environmentally-friendly than soaking, according to research.

The Team Fredericks portable steamer is rugged and practical with a 2000 watt steam generator that can be run from a lorry 3kv minimum power generator or mains hook-up. The Steam compartment will hold half a bale of hay and steam it in one go.

More info, technical data and pricing can be seen at the Happy Horse website.

Nicole is All Done for Asian Games

Eventer Nicole Pearson, based at Team Fredericks in preparation for the Asian Games, has found a back-up horse on which to compete.

"Just to let you know that I have been very lucky and have been very kindly loaned a lovely horse". she told us.

"His name is All Done II, stable name Ollie and he belongs to Helen and Andy James.

"He is a dun 11 year old who is Intermediate on points and is a lot of fun to ride. Ellie adores him and has already informed me that she is responsible for him when I go away! I am really looking forward to starting to compete with him and we all think that he will make a great back up for Scobie (The Navigator)."

The 16th Asian Games (also known as the XVI Asiad) will be held in Guangzhou, China from November 12 to November 27, 2010. Guangzhou will be the second city in China to host the games after Beijing in 1990. 41 events are scheduled to be contested, making it the largest Asian Games ever.

2010 Eventing Schedule

Team Fredericks has a very full event schedule for the upcoming season and will be competing at all the major four-star events, including Badminton, Burghley and are aiming for selection for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. See the full schedule.

Big turnout at Hambleden

Team Fredericks entered a dozen horses at the Symm International Horse Trials at Hambleden last weekend.

Full results can be seen on the British Eventing site.

"Sadly, it wasn't my day........ "

Clayton and The Frog finished in 48th position in the Badminton Horse Trials last weekend. You can see all of Clayton's official Badminton Video Diaries in our video area.

Some great images from our official photographers, Optimal, are in the gallery.

Bendigo and R Lillibet come in second at Withington

Lucinda on R Lillibet (pictured) took second place in the Open Novice Section E with an excellent score of 33.10. R Lillibet (Lillie) is an eight-year old bay owned by Michael Todd.

Lucinda was fifth in the Novice Section A on Flying Finish with a score of 38.40 , and managed a double clear on Nysa de Petra in the Open Novice section, although they were not placed.

Clayton, riding HC on MR Miller 2 also did a double clear and finished on 35.7.

Clayton on Bendigo took second place in the Advanced section with a score of 43.70. The Frog had a good dressage score of 37 and just one down in the showjumping but did not go cross country because he is heading for Badminton this week.

FBW Fandango, owned by Frizt Pape and Eckart Siewert came in seventh place in the Open Intermediate event, scoring 48.30.

Pictures From Withington can be found in the Gallery