Jacqueline Brooks on Balmoral and Elly Schobel on Raison d’Etre were the top scorers in the North American Breeders Futurity FEI Dressage Test for Five-Year-Old Horses and Six-Year-Old Horses respectively at the 2004 Dressage at Devon.

Brooks earned an 8.2 in the test, a score which judge Janet Brown says would place her in the top ten percent in a European championship. Her five-year-old American Hanoverian is by Belcanto out of Charisma, and was bred by Stephanie Jeffery. The Canadian was followed by Jamie Schmitt on Silverado, bred by Tineke and Kees Hogendoorn, with an 8.04, and Dawn Weniger on Wylie Q, bred by Suzanne Quarles, with a 7.8. The class was judged by Brown and Lois Yukins. “These tests are not judged the same way as a regular dressage test,” explained Brown. “We are looking for a horse that is going in the right direction.”

In the six-year-olds, Schobel earned a 7.6 on Raison d’Etre, an American Warmblood by the Holsteiner Regulus out of Little Doozie, a Thoroughbred. Raison d’Etre was bred by Dreamtime Farm. Hanne Valentin joined Brown in judging the six-year-old class.

The North American Breeders Futurity Championship Finals were open to those horses bred in North America who received qualifying scores at previous competitions. Prize money in excess of $20,000, an unprecedented amount in dressage competition, was divided among owners and breeders. The purpose of the event, sponsored by the International Sporthorse Registry-Oldenburg Registry North American and Hilltop Farm, Inc., is to draw attention to North American-bred horses. Says Ekkehard L. Brysch, President of the ISR Oldenburg Registry North America, “The horses bred in North America are now up to the quality of those in Europe.” Stargate Sporthorses and Harmony Sporthorses joined Hilltop and the ISR-ORNA as class sponsors. Supporting sponsors included Black Star Sporthorses, CATENA Watches, Meadow Brook Farm and Summit Sporthorses.