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We’re delighted to share the news that Ros Canter, woman of a thousand titles and medals, is expecting her second child with husband Chris McAleese, due early next year. The new arrival will join a busy household run by big sister Ziggy, who is reliably EN’s favourite person at every event she graces with her presence. If you’re unfamiliar with Ziggy’s work, here’s one of her best interviews from Burghley last year:
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Of course, such an exciting announcement also brings with it a hefty dose of The Plot Twists™. Ros, of the aforementioned many titles and medals is, among her accolades, the reigning European Champion: she took the title in Haras du Pin in 2023 riding her Burghley and two-time Badminton winner, Lordships Graffalo. The pair, who also helped Britain to team gold at last year’s Paris Olympics, were expected to be sure things for selection for next month’s European Championships, taking place on home soil at Blenheim Palace (September 18-21), but in her announcement today, Ros has confirmed that they will not be taking part. This news might come as a bit of a surprise to anyone who tuned in to Hartpury International over the weekend, where they handily won the tough CCI4*-S feature class.
“Whilst I’ll be missing the upcoming European Championship selection, I’ll be cheering the team on every step of the way,” writes Ros.
Ros was long-listed for selection with two horses — both Lordships Graffalo and the young up-and-comer MHS Seventeen were nominated at the end of June, and their removal from that list brings it down to fifteen candidates. While we haven’t yet been given word of a formal date for the team announcement, it can be expected reasonably soon: Hartpury was an important final run, and many of the continental teams will be heading to Arville in Belgium this week to complete their own final selection trials, which means we can anticipate a flurry of announcements over the next fortnight.
In the meantime, though, an enormous congratulations to Ros, Chris, and Ziggy – we’ll miss seeing you all at Blenheim, but we look forward to adopting another eventing kiddo into the mixed zone in the seasons to come!
