A horse breeder from Truro has earned a coveted award as the young horse she has bred looks destined to compete at the very top of his sport.

The BEF Futurity Evaluation series, which aims to identify British bred young potential sport horses to find the Olympic champions of the future, has given Sue Hicks’ filly foal, Uptown Girl, an Elite Premium title.

Uptown Girl entered in the eventing section, received the highest overall score of the day. A score of 9.14 and an Elite Premium indicates that the horse has the potential and outlook to perform well at international level.

Bred by Sue, of Pengelly Farm, Uptown Girl is out of a German Riding Horse mare called Heraldik Girl W and is by the eventing stallion, Future Illusion who is currently competing with Jeanette Brakewell.

“A couple of years ago, I saw a horse advertised in the Free Ads for £1,000 and decided to buy her – little did I know that I had actually bought a top quality mare,” said Sue.

Sue has been breeding horses all her life and has spent a lot of time breeding hunters before she started breeding sports horses.