Parkfield Quintessential was crowned champion four-year-old at the Dubarry Burghley Young Horse Event Finals on Friday 31 August.

Maximum points

Parkfield Quintessential, homebred by the Bishop family, is a son of Quicksilber out of a Capitol I mare.

He went into the final round with a five-point lead and secured victory with maximum points in the final section to finish clear by seven points under event rider Zoe Wilkinson. He finished with a final score of 89.0.

Reflecting on Parkfield Quintessential’s success, Emma Owen said: “He takes everything in his stride and never seems overwhelmed so we were never worried that the atmosphere of such a big event would affect his performance.

“Our next goal with Quinty is to go and win the Lycetts British Eventing Four-Year-Old Championships, which he qualified for when he won his first event at the start of the season.” 

In second place was the Dutch-bred Damaskus, ridden by Angus Pimblott and owned by Tanya Bridgeman – a regular at these finals. Another horse with jumping bloodlines, Damaskus is by the KWPN graded Vigaro – a son of the international jumper Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve – out of a mare by Landgraf II.

“I buy from a core of breeders in The Netherlands and have already got next year’s finalist in the pipeline,” said Tanya.

Kitty is King 

In this year’s five-year-old section of the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse final, Ceylor L.A.N. and Kitty King came out on top.

The pair gained the top marks for jumping and nine out 10 for suitability and potential from former Irish Olympic team member Eric Horgan, and were convincing winners - heading the class by four marks.

Kitty, who has been in strong form this season with former young horse champions Zidante and Persimmon, found Ceylor almost by accident

“He was too big and too expensive but I was in Sussex and so was he,” said Kitty.

The good-looking KWPN gelding is by Veron (deceased), a KWPN stallion by the Quidam de Revel son Quite Easy. “He is not really my size as he is tall but he is a lovely quality horse and one to produce for the future,” said Kitty who has sold 'three legs' to a small syndicate of owners.

Second place went to Oliver Townend and the Irish-bred Cooley SRS who is by the Holstein Ramiro B owned by Harthill Stud in Cheshire and was also in the arena shortly after in the stallion parade. Cooley SRS, now owned by Angela Hislop, was bought from Richard Shane in Ireland a year ago. 

Frank Diamond, also Irish-bred, impressed with his gallop to gain 10/10 in the final section and moved up the ranks into a final third place.