CHANGE THE RULES

Sir — As I bask in a wonderful result for our horse in winning the four-year-old British Eventing (BE) class recently at Tweseldown, it is tinged with some sadness. By winning, he should have qualified for the final, except that he can’t go because of a rule that discriminates against horses without full pedigrees — his dam is not recorded.

Surely the point of a four-yearold class is to spot and reward equine talent and the correct production of young horses by their riders? Why on earth then put such an unfair rule in place, so ignoring the many horses who have all the attributes other than a name in a certain box on a piece of paper? Of course it is important to recognise and value breeding, but not at the expense of the search for future stars.

I think it is time BE removed this prejudiced ruling for all those hardworking partnerships who deserve the recognition, because that is what sport is all about. Isn’t it? Aurora Eastwood

Winchester, Hants

BE sport manager Debbie Marfell replies: “One of the main aims of the BE Young Horse Championship is to identify talented youngsters with pedigree in order to build up a database of successful pedigree lines and so help British breeders identify such eventing lines for their breeding programmes. Lilly Corrine is an excellent example of a four-yearold champion who has gone on to compete at CCI4* level and produce offspring as well.

“This competition is the only one where BE requires the minimum of sire, dam and damsire in a studbook passport to support the aim of this championship. This has been a rule in existence for many years and we advise our members to ensure they are fully aware of all the rules of our competitions.

“There is no objection to four-year-olds competing in qualifiers without a recorded pedigree or to start in

BE80(T) classes, within the parameters of the rules for four-year-old horses.”