The latest winners of the performance prize money paid out to the riders leading British Eventing’s new Grassroots Opposition Beaten Percentage (OBP) Leagues have been announced. They will each receive a pay-out of up to £300 after topping the leagues at the end of the two-month period for July and August.
Prize money is paid out every other month to the person at the top of each of the leagues, as well as the overall winners at the end of the season. The bi-monthly ‘Performance Bonus’ can only be won once within each league, and it will go down the line if the current leader has already won it in the season. The Newcomer OBP League is solely for those in their first two seasons.
Congratulations to our July/August winners:
Overall, Newcomer, and BE80 OBP League – Sophie Waterer and Nico II with a current OBP of 100%
Sophie and Nico II (pictured above) topped three leagues during the July/August period, having won all three of their BE80Ou18 this season including Poplar Park, Horseheath and Blindley Heath (1). They win £200 for the Newcome league and £200 for the BE80 league.
“He’s been pretty cool,” said Sophie of Irish Sport Horse gelding Nico. “We got him when he was five and my sister Lilly bought him on and trained him. When she outgrew him a year ago, I took him on. We went to our first event and despite having never gone cross country on him, we won it.
“He’s been amazing all season and really consistent. We’ll train over the winter and move up to a higher level next season. His confidence has really grown and he’s got a lot of scope so we’re just taking him up the levels.”
BE90 OBP League £250 – Jessica Rudkin and Proper Dazzler 98.9%
Jessica and Proper Dazzler (pictured above) have enjoyed two wins and a second this season including wins at Tweseldown (2) and Blindley Heath (2), and a second at Offchurch Bury. They win £250.
“She is 17 now and I have had her since she as five,” said Jessica. “We’ve had an up and down relationship with show jumping – she is quite tricky in that phase – but we’ve reached a compromise where we don’t jump at all at home, only at the events, and that seems to suit her well. She loves the cross country so is happy.
“She has been really good this year so we’ve hopefully found a system that works. I’m really careful about the ground with her now and I just want her to have a nice time.”
BE100 OBP League £300 – Sam Lees and Linkswood Rowen on 96.3%
Sam and Linkswood Rowen (pictured above, courtesy of Action Replay) were second in their first event of 2023 in the BE100 at Burnham Market International (1), third in the BE100 at Horseheath and won the BE100open at Little Downham. They win £300.
“He is a homebred and is seven now,” said Sam. “He is from our first crop of foals that we bred ourselves. We broke him in and he has really come into his own this year. He did a lot of flat work over the winter and that has really helped his results.
“I haven’t evented him since his last run because my partner Cornelia O’Mahony and I have had a baby, but he’s now back in work and Cornelia will event him over the last few weeks of the season. Cornelia is a dressage ride by trade but had a little jump on him recently and absolutely loves him, so is going to have a go at eventing him until he is sold as he is sadly for sale.”
Congratulations to our winners!
The Leagues have been designed around the concept of the Opposition Beaten Percentage (OBP), the brainchild of Equiratings, and acknowledge how competitive a combination was in a particular class – the greater the number of fellow competitors that they finished ahead of, the better the score.
Find out more about the leagues, and how you could be winning your share of this amazing prize pot, here.
