PrintDrew Taylor has come a long way since getting run away with in the walk-trot class at the Upperville Colt & Horse Show (Va.) as a child. "They stapled something to the announcer's stand as the ponies went by the first time and that one was anti-noise!" Taylor fondly recalled.
This year, the 23-year-old handled two ponies and took both sections of the 22nd annual Virginia Pony Breeders Association's Yearling Futurity, June 12, held in conjunction with the Upperville Colt & Horse Show. Taylor showed Glen Haven Work Of Art to the colt/gelding futurity and grand championship titles, and won the yearling filly futurity with Royal Treasure. Amongst the formidable competition that Taylor topped at Upperville was her father Richard Taylor, a long-time pony breeder. However, it was a defeat he was proud to endure.
"It's very rewarding to see her be able to compete and win at that level and be willing to work as hard as you have to work to achieve that kind of success," he said. "We have a very good relationship here between father, mother and daughter. So we're lucky." Richard, Patsy and Drew run a pony breeding business on their Venture Farm, Montpelier, Va., and had several entries at Upperville.
Drew decided to take the reins on Suzanne Moody's Glenhaven Work Of Art and Jill Kulmann's Royal Treasure because she was most familiar with the two youngsters. "[Work Of Art] kind of likes me. I'm not very big--I'm basically a little person. So it made more sense for me to show him," she said.
Work Of Art, an adorable chestnut gelding (Downland Rembrandt--Even Money, Penrhyn Sporting Chance) overcame the inexperience he showed during his inaugural performance at the VPBA Benefit (Va.) in April to take the futurity title. "That was his first outing, and he wasn't perfect that day," said Drew. "[At Upperville] he showed pretty well when they came to look at him and then he jogged beautifully."
Drew also attributed Work Of Art's win to his darling look. "You walk up to him and you have to like him because he has these big, bug-brown eyes," she said.
That's The Business
Work Of Art was bred on the Taylors' farm but was bought as a foal by Moody, who stands his sire at her Glenhaven Farm in Unionville, Pa. Moody then left the youngster with the Taylor family to grow up and begin his show career. But Drew said the decision to sell the promising prospect was not a hard one to make.
"That's what we're in business to do. We raise a bunch of young ponies every year," she said. "We breed them and raise them and they're supposed to go on. We'll start them at 2 years old, and when they get to be 3 and 4 it's time for them to move on for a kid to ride. So we're used to that. That's the way it has always been."
Having to make the enviable of choice of which of the two qualified entries to handle in the grand champion class at Upperville, Drew chose Royal Treasure (Loafers Lodge Spring Ahead--Royal Reign, Cymraeg Rain Beau) because of the roan filly's winning record. "I had shown her at Devon [Pa.] and she'd been reserve champion filly," said Drew. But when Work Of Art was ultimately victorious in the grand championship class, it was a proud Richard Taylor that handed the reins to his daughter for the awards ceremony.
