He was crowned 2021 World Champion of the 5-year-olds, and this year he won a silver medal at the World Championships for Young Horses in Ermelo under Swedish Jeanna Högberg. Downtown (by Hesselhøj Donkey Boy/Zack) is equipped with a lovely expression, suppleness, and an amazing self-carriage, and now the talented junior rider, Rose Oatley from Germany, will have the honour of taking over the reins and being responsible for the further training of this exceptional young horse.
Rose Oatley is a well-known name internationally having added several championship titles to her resume with the palomino gelding, Daddy Moon, including double and triple European Champion in 2020 and 2021, while this year she earned much success as a junior rider with Rock Revolution and Veneno.
- Rose has made a great start as a junior rider on Rock Revolution and Veneno. But because it takes time to build a new partnership, we have chosen to search for a young horse that she can get to know while continuing to compete with Rocky and Veneno. It's hard to find a well-trained horse, so we decided to look for a promising young horse to move up the levels. There is no doubt that Downtown has the potential to go far in the sport with Rose, and at the same time he also seems to have the right work attitude and a great personality, states Kristy Oatley, mother of Rose, who got in touch with Helgstrand through a good friend, Udo Wagner.
Kristy is an experienced rider herself, earning much success on horses like Wall Street, Quando Quando, Clive and Du Soleil. In her career, she has achieved many victories and participated in the Olympics no less than four times.
- Downtown has just shown that he belongs to the best young horses in the world. With three impressive gaits, fantastic rideability and a great mind, we feel he is a perfect match for Rose. Although he is still a little green due to his age, Rose will get all the necessary help and support from her family and trainer. Therefore, we are very much looking forward to following them - and we are sure that they will one day enter the big arena with great success, says Andreas Helgstrand.
Downtown is sired by the Danish Warmblood elite stallion, Hesselhøj Donkey Boy, who has won the Danish Young Horse Championships four years in a row, won two WCYH medals and is the father of an impressive number of offspring. The damsire, Zack, is also the father of an exceptionally high number of successful offspring who compete at a high level in the sport.
