After a successful season at BE100 and novice level, Tom McEwen and Kilcannon Mischeif added The Howden Way 6-year-old title to their repertoire.

Owned by Hilary Kennedy and Alison McEwen, the Irish mare by Dignified Van’t Zorgvliet made light work of the track at West Wilts to finish on her dressage score of 26.8.

“I’m delighted with her,” said Tom. “She was fantastic and has really been building as the season has gone on. It was a great track at West Wilts – pretty technical with lots of skinnies. I’d like to say a massive thank you to The Howden Way for their support of this series.”

Tom will now aim the mare at the Cornbury House Horse Trials 6-year-old final.

In second place was David Doel and I Am Mayfield Z who also finished on their dressage of 26.8, while a double clear for a total score of 27 saw Toby Pigott and JTH Maradona in third.

The Young Horse leagues are a great way to expose promising event horses to bigger atmospheres, while benchmarking them against others of the same age, while offering recognition for the highest performing horses in these classes.

Supported by The Howden Way, the top three in each class receive an additional £250, £150, £100 respectively on top of the prize money already generated and awarded by the prize money calculator.

The Young Horse classes take place throughout the spring and summer in some of BE’s most stunning venues, with the 6-year-old classes running at novice level, while the 7-year-old classes is run at intermediate level.

For dates of the young horse classes this year, please click here

Alongside these classes, the performance of young horses competing with British Eventing is acknowledged within The Howden Way Young Horse Leagues which can be found here. There are four leagues which cover the ages of 5 years, 6 years, 7 years and then the ages of 8 & 9 combined. The leagues display the average of a horse’s three best finishing scores via a Power Based Average score which highlights the ability to repeatedly finish on a low score.

The 2023 Young Horse Championships take place at Cornbury House Horse Trials in Oxfordshire between 7-10 September. The classes will also benefit those aiming their young horses at the FEI World Breeding Championships at Le Lion d’Angers, which hosts a CCI2*-L World Championship for 6-year-olds and a CCI3*-L World Championship for 7-year-olds.