A horse from Pembrokeshire has jumped to the top of the breeding ratings for showjumping, after scooping a coveted award.

Stallion Lauriston, who was born at Lucy Sheldrake’s DeLaRoche stud in Simpson Cross won the leading showjumping sire award at the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) annual British Breeders Awards dinner at The Grange City Hotel, London.

The award recognises the stallion with the highest average progeny performance record for potential Showjumpers in the 2010 BEF Futurity Evaluation Series.

Lauriston is currently the top ranked BEF futurity stallion over all years and all disciplines and his progeny have excelled in these evaluations for some years.

Lucy said: “He was sire of the 2006 reserve overall champion yearling Auriston Elite; sire of 2008 overall winning three-year-old Classictop Notch and sire of 2009 elite premium sports pony yearling DeLaRoche Laureve.”

In the 2010 BEF futurity series Lauriston’s colt foal Classictop Lancelot won the overall leading foal Prize Lancelot was bred by Jane Townshend, of Classictop Stud, East Sussex, but he was born at DeLaRoche Stud, as his dam Renkum Meranta is one of their long-term boarding broodmares. Lucy added: “Meranta is a rather special mare being out of the same dam as Irish international jumping stallion Ringfort Cruise. Lancelot was actually the highest marked youngster for all ages and all disciplines across the entire 2010 series, having been awarded an incredible 9.46 out of 10.

“Everyone at DeLaRoche Stud is looking forward to the arrival of a full sibling in April this year, but it sure has big shoes to fill!”