Thomas Carlile and Sirocco Du Gers took the individual honours in the CC103* at the final leg of the Fei Nations Cup™ Eventing at the Boekelo in the Netherlands. It was only last year when this combination won the FEI World Breeding Eventing Championship for the Young Horses at Le Lion D’Angers.
Thomas was quick to praise his young horse, “I have a fantastic horse. He’s only eight and this was his first CCI3*. They don’t come much braver and more honest than him. My main aim was to give him confidence, and I was determined not to fall in the water – it was much too cold!” he added referring to the near-miss in the first water complex when the horse tripped and the rider lost his stirrup.
Thomas is really creating a name for himself and has his sights set on team selection for Rio. Here’s the interview The Horse Magazine did with the 27-year-old rider after his double victory at Le Lion D’Angers last year.
Sirocco Du Gers in Lion
It was great that the talented young French rider took out both the World Young Horse Championships, a world first – but even better that his parents were born in Britain, and so, he speaks perfect English. Now that was an unexpected interview possibility…
When did you decide you wanted to be an eventing rider?
“I was born in Toulouse in France, 1987, my parents used to have horses when they lived in the UK. I started being interested in horses when I was ten, and when I was eleven, Mum and Dad took me to see Burghley. The first out on the steeplechase was Mark Todd, and that is when I decided to be an event rider. He won the event, on Diamond Hall Red, that was in 1999, and since then I have always wanted to follow in his footsteps.”
“I went to work for Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks in 2006 – that was the year they really started to hit the scene with Clayton second at the World Games, and Lucinda won Burghley, that was a fantastic experience, I really learnt a lot from them. I spent a year with them before I came back to France and rented a few stables. I did my first 3 Star back in 2007, and I’ve bought and sold horses from then on.”
“I had two very good horses, both were sold, and I managed to buy the quality horses we have now, including my six-year-old champion, Tenareze – he’s mine.”
How far do you think Tenareze can go?
“I really think he is my ticket to Rio. If I do get to Rio, I think he would have a strong possibility of getting into the top ten. That would be within his ability – I’ve got to do everything right, but I know he could do it. I hope by then he will have a two if not three stablemates who could also go there.”
He looks super cool, when you were getting excited on the victory lap, he just looked so relaxed…
“He is really relaxed. He was so impressive on the first day, when I brought him out of his stable at half past nine in the morning, he came down, had 25 minutes warm-up and went in and won his test. There wasn’t an ounce of emotion, he stayed concentrated on me throughout the whole test. He is so serious, that is his strength, his mind. He has three very good paces and the mind to go with it. He is an out and out galloper, he jumps well, he is careful. To me, he is the modern event horse… and he’s got balls!”
Tenareze in the dressage at Lion
He looks sharper in front than his sire, Jaguar Mail?
“He’s got an extremely good dam line. His dam, Utopia du Maury is a very good showjumper, she showjumped to 1.35m as a six year old, and her sire, Quatar de Plape is a typical Anglo-Arab, very careful, not the most powerful but extremely careful and extremely fast over pole. When Patrick, his breeder, brought him to me as a two-year-old, I wasn’t that much of a fan of Jaguar horses, I thought they were very slow to mature and not the most careful of horses. With this horse, I couldn’t find anything to put me off – he ticked all the boxes. I think he is fantastic, really special.”
Is he covering mares now?
“He stood his first season this year, he covered 20 mares, I think next year he will be doing a bit more.”
The other horse?
“Sirocco is very special. He was brought to me as a three-year-old. His dam is a full-sister to Tenareze’s grand-dam. When he came to me, he was a really ugly duckling. He didn’t look like anything. But between his two eyes, he’s got a fantastic brain, very careful, very very intelligent – he’s sharp, he was a bit cheeky to start off with but when he learnt you can also work and play, he took to eventing. He wasn’t born with all the ability, he moves correctly, but his mind has allowed him to go further into his dressage and now he is a very good mover. There were only two horses that went under 40, and he was one of them. He’s got a fantastic amount of energy and blood. A lot of horses on the cross country came to the seventh or eighth minute marker, and started to blow. At the ninth minute marker I was still trying to calm him down a bit, so I have no worries about his speed for 3 Star. I have 30% of him. The breeder wasn’t too convinced when the horse was young. I had him in the yard for a month, and said ‘no he has a brain to kill for, we’ll keep a share in that horse’.”
Is eventing in France very different from the British scene?
“What is very different is the financial system. In France, people buy and sell, breeders buy and sell – you go to the UK, and most of the owners are wealthy people who are part of the rider’s entourage, and they like to see their horses run in the big events. It is very difficult for French riders to keep their horses, recently I’ve been able to make with some very good owners. I sold 50% of Tenareze to an owner who wants a horse to go to big events. There aren’t many owners who really dream of the sport in France, that’s why French riders have difficulty keeping their horses, but it is starting to work. Riders are starting to syndicate their horses – 20 owners isn’t ideal but it allows them to keep their rides which is important if we want to win medals.”
Did you come to Lion thinking you would win two World Championships?
“I did dare believe that the horses were capable of it, and then when I started to dream of winning both, I sort of woke myself up, and said, if you want to do that, you’ve got to really work hard. I knew the horses had the ability. Taz in the six-year-old is really special, I knew he was the best French horse here, I didn’t know the internationals. It was great to find myself in the lineup with Andrew Nicholson behind me, he’s a great guy and you’d rather have him behind you than in front of you. Sirocco in the seven-year-olds, he’s won everything this year bar the Seven-Year-Old championships where he was second to Bart – I knew he was the French horse to beat, but he pulled it off. They both pulled it off… it’s a dream.”
Victory lap on Sirocco du Gers at Lion