Haddon British Groom Awards

On Saturday evening at the British Breeders Awards Dinner, Chris Hewlett, Managing Director of Haddon Training presented the winning candidates in the four categories of the Haddon Training British Grooms Awards with their awards, commenting, “The standard of nominations received in the four categories was extremely high and along with my co-judges, Jane Holderness-Roddam and Jenny Ellis we deliberated for a number of hours of who should be the worthy winners and feel that they have all made an outstanding contribution in their careers or at the start of their career in the equestrian industry”.

The Haddon Training British Grooms Award was awarded to Adele Clarke, who was nominated by her employers, Vin and Liz Jones of Preci-Spark event horses, citing that since Adele, joined them nine years ago, her professionalism, skill and dedication are second to none and they have total trust in her to manage any situation which may arise, having the responsibility for the Preci-Spark competition yard of around ten horses, which is 25 minutes away from where they live.

Daniel Tarpey received the runners-up award in this category being nominated by his employer Laura Mantel, who highlighted that since Daniel joined her team that he has transformed the overall appearance in her yard, the wellbeing of the horses and above all the amazing way in which he carries out the daily chores in the most diligent but efficient and time effective manner.

The Haddon Training Team GBR Award was presented to Alan Davies, nominated by Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin along with Richard Waygood, World Class Dressage Performance Manager, all of them citing how meticulous Alan is in his organisation, leaving nothing to chance with no stone unturned and the unrivalled empathy that he has with the horses in his care. Alan has played a key part in Carl and Charlotte’s success over the last few years and how much Team GBR feel very fortunate to have him as part of its team.

Alan Davies said, " It's means the world to me to win this award ! To get recognition for the work I do and have done for a long time is a great feeling, and to be nominated and judged by some very renowned names in the equestrian world is a huge honour . 

I've been working with horses since I left school and have worked in several different spheres of the equestrian world , and have now taken Carl and Charlotte and their horses to 6 championships which has been quite a responsibility, but one I've loved.

I would really like to thank those that nominated me , the judges and a huge thank you to the sponsors who do great work in promoting grooms and all we do . And I would like to say thank you to Steph Sharples and Helen Babbington Smith , who work for Gareth Hughes and Michael Eilberg , we have done 3 major championships together and they are amazing at their jobs and very loyal supportive friends.

It's so important that the sponsors are doing this for the grooms , we have a really important job and we need to make sure there are new grooms coming through that want to dedicate themselves to the horses."

The Haddon Training Yard Manager Award was presented to Kate Hort – nominated by Alex Hua Tian and Sarah Higgins whose yard Kate had managed for two years her role at Pinfold Stables includes, staff management and training, all aspects of accounts, maintaining all of the relationships with owners and sponsors, diary management and has even been known to tax their cars, do their laundry and even feed them!  However, Alex and Sarah feel the greatest testament to Kate were the emails and phone calls they received from their vet, farrier, owners and junior staff members pointing them in the direction of this award and suggesting that Kate should be nominated.

The Haddon Training Apprentice Award was presented to Rosie Harbour, who was nominated by her employer, Witham Villa Equestrian Centre, citing how Rosie was extremely under confident, shy and nervous to begin with, however after a week they realised they had got an extremely worthwhile member to the team and from the first day Rosie proved her commitment to her career and passion for horses, having a natural empathy for them, always going the extra mile to ensure their welfare, quick to notice problems, reliable on her reporting and responsible in her duties.

The judges felt it appropriate to award a highly commended certificate in the British Grooms Award category and the recipient was Oscar Mayhew-Sanders, who was nominated by Tim Stockdale.  In the Team GBR Grooms Award category, the judges felt that Zanie King who groomed for Laura Collett at the FEI European Eventing Championships was such an outstanding candidate they awarded a runners-up certificate to her. In the Apprentice Award category, joint highly commended certificates were awarded to Sophie McDonald, nominated by Platinum Stud and Steven Skillington, nominated by Norman Court Stud.

Image of the award winners with Chris - left to right: Alan Davies, Rosie Harbour, Adele Clarke, Chris, Kate Short and Daniel Tarpey.