Mr Shelby and Fraser Tombleson with sponsors Nicki Hull and Jenny Booth from East Coast Performance Horses
EAST COAST PERFORMANCE HORSES FIVE-YEAR-OLD BREEDING SERIES
Winner: Fraser Tombleson (Gisborne) and Mr Shelby
Fraser Tombleson has had an absolute blinder this season with his home bred Mr Shelby, winning the five-year-old championship at the National Young Horse Show, the Horse of the Year crown and topping it off with the East Coast Performance Horses Five-Year-Old Breeding Series.
But in a bittersweet end to his season, the horse has now sold and will soon be joining his new rider.
“He is extraordinary,” says Fraser. “I was hopeful of keeping a share in him but after the Horse of the Year Show there was so much interest and we are realistic about how much we can do.”
He runs a 1000-hectare sheep and beef station on the outskirts of Gisborne with wife Jaime. The horse breeding side of their lives is very much a family affair too with Fraser’s parents Jane and Warwick also helping and advising. Most shows involve many hours in the truck and with four-year-old twins Jonty and Isabelle and 18-month-old Billie, it is no mean feat just to get out the door.
“Gisborne is a bit off the beaten track! Travelling without kids are ok but with three – it adds a lot more just in the amount of stuff you have to take. It’s not as straight forward as it used to be.”
It was Jaime who chose Euro Sport Diamant B to go over Fraser’s World Cup showjumper Mea I. “He’s a nice big scopey stallion who took our eye and has certainly produced what we were after.”
They lost Mea in a paddock accident nearly a year ago, making the season’s spoils all the more special.
When he first started Mr Shelby Fraser says he thought he was going to be a bit of a handful but he ended up being “really trainable, easy to ride” and a horse that loved his job. “He made my job easy. He has so much scope and so careful.”
Mr Shelby is the second of two embryo transfers they did out of Mea.
“At the beginning of the season I wasn’t thinking about chasing the series but we ended up travelling all over the place. You find yourself checking the leaderboard! We were a bit lucky having those two (series) wins with the extra points. Claire (Wilson – series runner-up with McMillans Pippin) was so consistent all the way through.”
It is the first series Fraser has ever won although he was second equal one year in the seven-year-old series with Mea.
He’s excited to see what the future holds for Mr Shelby and amping to get on with some of the youngsters at home in his paddocks.
For the Booth family, who are series sponsors East Coast Performance Horses owners, it is all about seeing young horses come out and really start to hit their straps.
ECPH manager Nicki Hull (nee Booth) says the youngsters learn so much in that first year.
“It is cool to watch the Five-Year-Old Series and see them progress from pottering around their first outing through to HOY or the series finals – they become completely different horses,” says Nicki. “They learn, get stronger and suddenly things aren’t so spooky. Everything becomes so much easier once they know what they are doing.”
ECPH has been sponsoring the series for more than a decade. “We love to give back to the sport.”
ECPH is very much a family affair with Nicki, husband Sam and her parents Jenny and Craig. “We are really lucky to also have an amazing group of people who ride and break our horses in too – from the farrier to the vets and also Logan Massie and his fiancé Alexa Dodson. All the handling is done by Sam and me with the help of mum and dad.”
They’re back a little with their breeding programme but still have four or five foals a year.
“We love to see the horses succeed with riders – whether that be clear in their first round or going out and winning the Premier Stakes at HOY with a Grand Prix rider.”
Nicki admits she’s always enthusiastic about their babies, but the current crop do look pretty good. “Our foal crop this year is hands down the best we have produced so far. All four are beautiful types with good natures and conformation.”
One already has a non-horsey investor and another has been purchased by a rider.
“Having an investor like this is a new pathway for us but hopefully by the time the horse is five or six years old and competing, we will get him to some of the bigger shows so he can see what it is about. At the end of the day we need these kinds of owners to be in our rather expensive sport.”
Results – Fraser Tombleson (Gisborne) Mr Shelby (by Euro Sport Diamant B out of Mea 1 by Ngahiwi One Eye) 66 1, Claire Wilson (Waipukurau) McMillans Pippin (by Double J Typhoon out of The Big Apple by Corlando) 46 2, Oliver Edgecombe (Waipukurau) Carlo I (by Clarimo out of Laguna Beach by Lord Pezi) 44 3, Tylah Amrein (Takapau) Double J Phyliss (by Double J Typhoon out Irish Mac by Omnicorp) 43 4.
Diana Dobson
May 2025