With foaling season well underway, Horse & Hound’s sport horse breeding editor rounds up some of the most exciting foals of 2018 so far

1. The Farouche legacy

A Devon stud has welcomed two exciting foals out of the double world young horse champion, Woodlander Farouche. A colt (above) and a filly (below), both by Valverde, were born at Lorna Wilson’s Newton Stud earlier this month, where Farouche’s grand-dam Claire also lives.

“The foals were the result of a double flush performed at Twemlows Stud — Claire and her family have a tendency to double ovulate which is great for the embryo transfer work,” says Lorna. “I’m so grateful to Ally Walton for allowing me to buy these embryos in utero at the end of last season.”

“I couldn’t be happier to have both a colt and a filly! The filly will in all likelihood be retained and the colt will be for sale. The filly arrived first, in the middle of the day, and is a real character with that ‘look-at-me’ quality just like Farouche. The colt kept us waiting an extra week, but he is huge, long-legged and has a beautiful frame, so it was worth it!

“We haven’t decided on names yet and are open to ideas which must start with a V!”

Farouche’s earlier offspring have already made an impact, with her 2010 embryo transfer daughter Woodlander Walk On The Wild Side scoring two higher first premiums as a youngster, and her 2011 approved son Woodlander Wild Child already building a reputation as a stellar sire.

2. The daughter of this year’s Badminton winner

Kiwi event rider Jonelle Price is excited about an embryo transfer filly out of her hugely popular Badminton winner, the Classic daughter Classic Moet. The foal, who is by Upsilon, was born on Good Friday at the end of March and has now been named Faerie Good Golly.

“If she’s a patch on her parents, she’ll be a formidable filly!” says Jonelle.

3. The grandchildren of Britain’s most exciting dressage hope

Emma Blundell’s Mount St John stud has welcomed two foals out of daughters of Charlotte Dujardin’s World Equestrian Games hopeful, the majestic Mount St John Freestyle. A Vivaldi colt (above) out of the Ampere mare Mount St John A La Freestyle arrived at the beginning of April, followed by a “stunning” Total US filly out of the De Niro mare Mount St John Dancefloor at the end of May. If their stellar dam line is anything to go by, we predict big things for these two.

4. A multi-purpose filly bred in the purple

The gorgeous Geminis Classic Dancer was born at the Gemini stud in late May, with all the breeding credentials to go on to a successful career either as an eventer, or in the show ring. The filly is by Geminis Classic Opera, a Cuddy finalist at Horse of the Year show as a three-year-old, whose grandsire Chico’s Boy is the sire of Gemma Tattersall’s international three-star mare Chico Bella P. Classic Dancer is out of Lemington Night Dance, full sister to Piggy French’s three-star partner Lemington Letts Dance.

“She is a stunning nearly black foal who has a fantastic career ahead of her,” says Georgie Belton of the Gemini stud.

5. A possible star sire of the future

Dressage bloodlines don’t come much better than that of grand prix dressage rider Rebecca Cowderoy’s beautiful colt foal Spider, born on 12 May at Fosshey Stud, out of her international small tour and keur mare Celicia (Florencio x Gribaldi). Spider, whose full name is yet to be decided, is by the stallion of the moment, the Vivaldi x Ferro son Dream Boy, who is clocking up international grand prix victories with Holland’s Hans Peter Minderhoud.

“We can’t wait to see him develop over the years; for now we plan to keep him entire,” says Rebecca. “He is naturally uphill with great balance and beautifully put together, his head is extremely pretty — you can see his mum in him — and he has a huge wow factor about him meaning you can’t help but look at him!”

This week’s issue of Horse & Hound magazine (24 May 2018) is our cobs special, where we meet Our Cashel Blue and find out how to bag the perfect cob

Don’t miss next week’s issue (31 May 2018), where Badminton winner Classic Moet is our Horse Hero of the week

Filed under: Riding Tips

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