The winners of the performance prize money paid out to the riders leading British Eventing’s new Grassroots Opposition Beaten Percentage (OBP) Leagues for May-June 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 May/June.
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 May/June winners:
Newcomer and BE80 OBP League – Jill Malcolm and Oran’s Autumn Lass topped both with a OBP of 100%
Jill and Oran’s Autumn Lass won all three of their BE80 runs, including Brechin Castle at Kirriemuir in May, and Hopetoun (1) and Oatridge in June. Jill wins £200 for the Newcomer league and £200 for the BE80 league.
“I bought her as a four-year-old for £200 with the plan of breaking her in to sell, and she is now 12 and still with me,” said Jill. “She is a Connemara and an angel – I do everything with her. We started eventing last year. I used to event when I was younger until my daughter started eventing so I stopped, and then I decided to get back to it last year. We got to two competitions last year and this year I thought, we’ll get out and have some fun and then I’ll retire as I’m 53. But I have got the bug again and absolutely love it. I won’t be retiring any time soon. Eventing is so friendly. Whatever competition you’re at, or whoever you are parked next to, everyone is so helpful and friendly. Orla loves it too and always has her ears forward. She is starting to realise it’s fun and she gets quite excited now. I’m very lucky to have her”
BE90 OBP League – Eliza Peters and Redpark Sammey with a OBP of 97.6%
Eliza and Redpark Sammey were second in the BE90 at Tweseldown (2) and won their BE90 at Mendip Plains Ston Easton, both in May. They win £200.
“This achievement came at the perfect time as I had a fall recently which resulted in a broken collar bone which unfortunately has put me out of the saddle for a few weeks,” said Eliza. “So, this really has helped my enthusiasm to get back in the saddle. The prize money is going to go towards coaching and equipment for the remainder of the season. I only started BE last season. Sammy is just one amazing pony and my aim is to qualify for the Grassroots championships at Badminton in 2025.”
BE100 OBP League £300 – Jessica Zajda and Leisure Man with a OBP of 95.2%
Jessica and Leisure Man were third in their first BE100 event of 2024 at Brechin Castle at Kirriemuir in May, and then won their next two events at Frenchfield (1) in May and Hopetoun (1) in June. They win £300.
“I’ve had Leisure Man nearly 10 years and he’s now 14,” said Jessica. “We got up to 2* level but just before our first 2* at Blair in 2021, he fell over in the field and broke his pelvis. I was due to start full time as a solicitor the week after Blair, so it was my eventing dream over. He had quite a bit of time off in the field and after lots of rehab, he come out of the winter this year as sound as he’s been since the accident. I was disappointed for a long time knowing that he’d never go back to that level, but then I realised that just to have him back out competing at all was a huge bonus. I feel very privileged to have an amazing horse like him that I can take out to events and enjoy riding. I have a full time job and live in a different city during the week, so eventing is now my hobby and I’m having so much fun. Having these leagues gives me a goal with him. We’ll do a couple more BE100s and then aim for the 1* at Blair.”
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.
