Setting the showjumping world alight right now is the striking six-year-old stallion High Offley The Colour Of Money.
Owned and bred by Pat and Alan Morris at the High Offley Stud, and now being impeccably produced by Ireland’s Anthony Condon, “Monty” is catching the eye in the ring for his talent as well as his stunning piebald marking.
“Every show we go to, people stop and stare and comment on how beautiful he is,” says rider Anthony of the son of High Offley Fernando (Kannan) x Arab Van Het Molenhof. From the motherline of Fernando is KWPN stallion Samber, who is recognised as a hugely influential coloured stallion.
High Offley The Colour Of Money was produced in his early days by Paul Sims, most notably finishing runner-up in the four-year-old championship at Bolesworth in 2023.
Anthony then took the reins for his five-year-old year, where his consistency shone with clear round after clear round, including at the WBFSH Studbooks Jumping Global Champions Trophy in Valkenswaard.
High Offley The Colour Of Money is “ultra-consistent”
Stepping up to further international competitions this year, Anthony and High Offley The Colour Of Money have just returned from the CSIO3* Nations Cup show in Drammen, Norway, where the duo posted a hat-trick of double clears in the young horse classes, finishing seventh in the high-calibre final won by Norway’s Benedikte Serigstad Endresen riding Obarla T.
“That was his first time travelling such a long way and he was fantastic,” says Anthony, who also jumped double clear for Ireland in the show’s Nations Cup riding Lisa Hales’ 11-year-old stallion Oviedo S.
“Monty was so consistent there, but he’s always been ultra-consistent, that’s just him. He loves his job.”
Perhaps surprisingly, coloured horses remain something of a rarity in top level showjumping, but the good ones always turn heads.
“Monty is an unusual colour but he’s also extremely talented; he’s a flashy, scopey guy and really careful, so even if he wasn’t coloured, people would comment on him for the fact he looks outstanding on the ground then when he jumps it’s just ‘wow’,” says Anthony.
“His markings are amazing though, they add to the whole story and he really does stand out in the crowd. It’s lovely to have a good-looking horse that catches the eye.”
A stallion going places
The breeding stallion went to his first mares last year and he has produced an exciting first crop of foals.
“All his foals have been coloured so far, so he obviously has a very strong gene”, says Anthony Condon. “He’s been very busy with stud duties again this year, so we have to tie all that in with his competing, too, but he does so extremely well.
“He’s only six so he’s still learning his trade, but every question I ask of him he’s answered it,” he says.
“He jumped clear every day in the five-year-old championship at Valkenswaard last year and to tick along in six-year-old classes is the aim for this year. We’re not going to try to break any records at the moment though because I think there’s a big future in the horse – hopefully grands prix and the odd Nations Cup.
“We have big expectations for him and all credit to his breeders.”
Watch this space, High Offley The Colour Of Money is definitely a young horse to keep on your radar.
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