All pictures with kind permission of Rachel Wakefield and Uptown Eventing
Rachel on Uptown at Saumur CCI ***
Uptown Eventing is an extremely successful business sourcing and matching some of the best event horses in the world with top riders. Named after Rachel Wakefield’s own beloved advanced horse, it’s probably her passion for the sport that has enabled her to thrive in a lifestyle that demands long hours, travel, research, a certain level of organisation and of course, superior people skills and a giant Rolodex in all weathers and conditions,
“I had a really good horse called Uptown which I rode at three star level, and I was what I call a good amateur rider. I had two advanced horses, both of which I produced to being entered at four star, but they were only ever wait-listed. Uptown was just an amazing horse, and he retired when he was about 14 years old, but during all those years I’d built up an enormous contact base, and I’d also been based with various people around the country, and trained with possibly every trainer there is going! I’d been based with the Tuckers (Mike and Angela) with my first Advanced Horse, Remember Spartan, and I’d particularly met a lot of people there.”
Rachel had always combined her eventing with a career as a PA, but on Uptown’s retirement she told me she struggled to replace him, and instead ended up selling her novice horse to America after giving the ride briefly to Dan Jocelyn. Following that, she then sold a couple of other horses as a favour to a friend, but this time for a fee, the first of which went on to be on the Young Rider Team, and from there the seed began to grow…
” I was really unhappy because horses were what I loved doing, so I decided that I would try and make a business out of it. I’d taken redundancy where I’d worked, for quite a high-powered blue chip company called Compass Group. Then my french contact found me a horse called Kachemire le Beau, which we sold to Libby Soley who then went on to win medals on the British Junior Team”
Rachel was already quite well known in eventing circles due to her own riding career, and also because of her burgeoning journalism,
“At the same time as I was riding Uptown I was asked to be the Eventing Magazine Diarist. I led quite an interesting life because I had a ‘proper’ job, I had one horse that was going to Blenheim having done one Advanced because in those days you could do that, and I had a bit of a whirlwind social life, going to polo, parties, this and that! Because I only had one horse I wrote about everything else too – suddenly everyone knew what I was about! They followed me for a year, and competitively I probably had the worst year of my life because I was supposed to go to Burghley and I ended up having a fall at our final run and couldn’t go, although the story behind it was all quite amusing at the time, being helicoptered off in the same helicopter that Blyth (Tait) had just been in. Then after my diary year was up, I had a rather gossipy lunch with Eventing Magazine editor Julie Harding and I was asked to write Stable Talk, which I’ve done for about five years now, and which has been quite helpful, as people automatically know who I am.”
The writing also helped in other ways,
“When I was doing the journalism, because I was asked to write event reports, I suddenly realised that what I saw, and what I was riding, was correct – the writing gave me confidence. I hadn’t always believed in myself as a rider, but the writing reinforced in me that I did know a good horse when I saw one, and the lines that I walked to ride were the correct ones.
I also spent rather more time than I should have done trawling the internet watching the results, writing up articles when I should have been working in the office!”
Behind the funny, gossipy exterior though, is still the high-powered career woman who’s making Uptown Eventing work – a happy marriage of horse sense, business smarts and instinct,
“What I decided to do, and I saw a bit of a gap in the market, was I just wanted to sell the best horses in the world, so that people could have a successful time eventing. I’d had such a fantastic time eventing and really enjoyed it, I still absolutely love the sport, and I wanted other people to have that too when they went out on a horse. It was really important to me that if someone rang me up looking for a horse that I could then find them ‘The’ horse even if it was someone looking for an Olympic winning horse. Obviously we find horses for all sorts of people, but that is what I wanted to do, and I’m really proud of the people I’ve matched up with horses and the list is fairly substantial. We’ve had 3 horses finish in the top 3 at CCI 4* level this year. We don’t sell hundreds of horses, what we try and sell is the best horses and they’re few and far between.“
Rachel and Michael at Saumur
About four years ago, Rachel was approached by what ended up being quite a special client: it took her about a year to find a horse for Michael Wynne (he was very fussy, her words not mine!) but since then they’ve become business partners, romantic partners, and parents to 21 month old Lily. Rachel tells me that Lily, who has travelled all over Europe with Uptown Eventing, is dying to ride but Michael would rather she play tennis! The horse Michael eventually bought was William Fox-Pitt’s ride Mr Dumbledore, and they kept in touch after the sale,
“I really do follow all the horses that are bought through us because I feel it’s really important that I’ve done my job properly and take great pride in seeing them succeed with their new riders.”
Uptown Eventing however has flourished with the addition of Michael, making it a tightly run ship of two,
“Michael’s show-jumped internationally, he had a team of 35 horses when he was show-jumping, is highly respected by all the British top show-jumping riders and is a lovely rider to watch. He played polo for a couple of years and then he took to eventing. In three years he went from nothing to winning an advanced and coming second at Chatsworth in the 3* Class, only beaten by Bettina on the grey horse (Ringwood Cockatoo). Michael is a real horseman, he’s really perceptive about what a horse is, about how it’s brain works – he can watch a horse come to a fence and he’ll know how that horse is, whether it’s sensible or not, and he’ll be right every single time.”
So what is life like for Rachel now?
“Michael developed the website and the pair of us spend our time on the road and at the computer. We always have our phones with us 24/7, and if someone rings me, they’ll always get a call back. The website gets about 50,000 hits a month, it’s our shop window, although we don’t put all the horses for sale on there, and we like to keep the business details quite private for the sake of discretion. We try to get to as many events as possible as you never know when you’re going to spot ‘the one’ – our favourite saying is ‘we’re not going to spot a horse in our back garden’ so we get in the car and go and look!
Michael rides two horses for one owner, and I’ve yet to find a horse for myself which is silly really because we see so many nice horses, but a) I’m quite picky, and b) we haven’t got the budgets that some of these people have got to spend. I do want to ride again, it was my whole life. I did want to have a child, but it wasn’t until I met the right person that it enabled me to do all that. I’d love Michael to move up the grades with a horse, that would be really fantastic too.”
I asked Rachel to explain the very basics,
“If somebody rings me looking for a horse, and gives me their criteria, I will then analyse it and decide what I think is the best solution for them to meet the needs of what they’re looking for. I may know of one or several horses in the UK, but if not I may send them to Ireland, France, Germany, Australia or NZ if I think that’s the best decision and the right horses are out there for them to see – we’re not into wasting people’s time seeing the wrong horses. Then we make arrangements for them to trial the horses and will accompany them so they get our input too. If they like it they buy it, if not, we keep on looking!
We do spot horses out and about, and we will approach people to see if they’ll sell, and sometimes that means offering a lot of money, and sometimes that means people turning down a lot of money. I kept my advanced horse until the day he died; I’d been offered a lot of money for him and I’d turned it down, but nowadays I’d have to think about it differently. We like to take people through the whole sales process so everyone’s comfortable about what we’re doing, we do all the negotiating for people and we’re not frightened to bargain a bit on behalf of riders because it is a business, a lot of riders aren’t very practical about that side of it. There’s no hidden agenda, everything is clear and out in the open, and I have what I believe is a very good reputation for being straight and honest and helping people to find a top horse.”
Sinead Halpin & Manoir de Carneville, 3rd at Rolex 2011
Perhaps one of the most well-known matches Uptown Eventing has made in the US has been Sinead Halpin’s Manoir de Carneville (Tate), highest placed US combination at Rolex this year, and heading to Burghley,
“Sinead contacted me and came over from the States, and we went on a trip around the UK. We did find a horse but they actually took it off the market which was really annoying, but watching her was a delight, because she made every horse she got on look wonderful, she improved everything she sat on. As a result of that trip we became friendly and struck up a bond; then when she was at William’s (Fox-Pitt) she rang me up and told me she had a potential owner looking for a horse, so I arranged for her to go to France to look at Tate. Having been a top PA at board level, I’m very instrumental at organising people at getting from A to B, I love fixing things like that, if someone has to get to the middle of Siberia – I’ll look at their best options to get there, I like all the logistics! So I got Sinead a day return on the ferry for thirty pounds, got her picked up at the ferry port, she went and tried the horse, loved him and bought him.”
Uptown Eventing has also recently sourced a horse for another US rider, Julian Stiller, based in the UK,
“Jules approached me at an event and said she was looking for something to ride at the London 2012 Test Event. I’d been following Gunstone Wallstreet for a couple of years and thought he’d be really suitable for her. I’m delighted that we’ve found Jules a really nice horse, she’s really happy with him. He’ll certainly go three star, and hopefully 4 star. I think Jules has now built herself a really good team of horses and I think she’ll have some really good success in the next couple of years, but it takes a while, and you’re only as good as the horse you’re riding.”
Mary King and Imperial Cavalier
Another high profile relationship for Uptown Eventing has been the matching of Mary King with Call Again Cavalier, Imperial Cavalier and Fernhill Urco,
“When Caroline Pratt died, she was riding Call Again Cavalier, and the owners Sue and Eddie Davies and their daughter Janette (Chinn) are close personal friends of mine. They were at a bit of a loss as to what to do because obviously they had people ringing up wanting the ride, and I knew that Mary was slightly short on horses. The Davies’ and I discussed riders for Call Again Cavalier, and Eddie is a man who wants results, and I told them that if they wanted a top rider who’d produce a top ten result at a four star then Mary King would do the job, and funnily enough the first time Eddie came to watch Mary ride the horse she fell off!”
However this didn’t put the Davies’ off, and they went on to buy more horses for Mary to ride, with Rachel’s help,
“I’d spotted horses for them in the past, and I’d seen Imperial Cavalier as a young horse and told Sue and Eddie about him, and they’d asked me to keep an eye on him. For a long time his former owner Vicky didn’t want to sell him, and then one day she changed her mind and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Mary didn’t even know anything about it, Janette just sent her a message telling her to go and pick him up. With Fernhill Urco, I’d heard that he was on the market, told them about him, they went over and tried him, liked him and bought him.”
Rachel told me that things don’t often go wrong, but they had a near miss last year,
“At the end of 2010, when majority owner Sabine Kreuter took German WEG World Champion La Biosthetique Sam from Michael Jung’s yard back to her home in Germany, Michael (Wynne) took a client to see the horse, and naturally we do everything fairly discreetly anyway, but especially in this instance we didn’t want anybody to know we were trying the horse. However, as Michael and the rider were sitting in the airport lounge on the way home, they heard an announcement over the tannoy, “Could Mr Jung and Mr Scherer (Rodolpe – French rider) please come to the information desk”. It was probably just a name coincidence but Michael and the rider hid in the airport because they didn’t want anyone to know they’d just been to Germany to see the horse!”
Yet another high profile sale – Regent Lad. Lily shows Mark Todd how the ropes (Lucky Lily!)
I’m intrigued to know what kind of horse tempts Rachel?
“I’d go for an old-fashioned Irish horse. Out of the horses I’ve sold Imperial Cavalier is definitely one you’d want to have had a sit on. Regent Lad is another lovely horse, I’d love that one! If you had a million pounds what would you pick? It would be so difficult…”
It’s quite fun just to browse the Uptown Eventing Successful Matches Page, and I’m not at all surprised to see one of my favourite horses from Gatcombe there, Zara Phillips’ ride, Silver Lining,
“That horse is amazing, and she will get it right, but he’s not completely straight-forward and he’s quite cheeky. She will have her day on that horse. “
Zara Phillips on Sliver Lining
Uptown Eventing will also be represented at the Pan Am Games by Mexico after a phone call from a previously unknown rider, Carlos Cornej,
“In the UK we know all the riders within reason, their capabilities, what type of horse they like and what does or doesn’t suit them, but when someone from Mexico rings you up looking for a horse you really don’t know what to expect. Carlos sent us some video footage of him riding, and he was coming over just before Christmas for a fortnight, so we organised for him to go to France for 3 days, Ireland for 3 days, Germany for 3 days, and then spend 5 days in England traveling with us, and he had an amazing time. He was such a pleasure to take around. He did end up buying two horses in Germany, one of which, Sammy Equus, is hopefully going to the PanAms, so in his spare days in England I then had to book him into a hotel in London and he went Christmas shopping and he loved it!”
Rachel and Michael will be following the European Championships closely this year, on tv poolside on their annual holiday, and they’ll have Eventing friends join them too – last year a certain Burghley competitor prepped for the big event by spending the week prior to the event on vacation with them, and swore that he was so relaxed when he rode there it definitely contributed to his top ten finish, so much so that he’s already booked back in for this year hoping for another good performance.
If you’re looking for a lovely horse, Rachel and Michael’s contact details are available on their website, and even if you’re not strictly in the market for a new horse, it’s a wonderful site to window shop! A big thank you to Rachel for her time, I kept her chatting for far too long and could have gone on even longer, for that I apologise also! Thank you for reading, go browsing, go day-dreaming, and go uptown eventing!
