Off The Track - Saddle Up Smudge

This article is from the January 2021 Horse Deals magazine.

Article: Anna Sharpley.

The once-familiar story of finding a successful showjumper in a paddock is rare these days, but as successful jumping riders, Adam and Jervaise Prime discovered, it is still possible. Saddle Up Smudge was declared Equestrian Victoria 2019/2020 Off The Track Showjumper of the Year and keeps alive in everyone’s heart the idea that their next champion might be found by chance along a country road.

Smudge, that raced briefly as Praire Sky, was foaled in 2010. He had four starts in country Victoria for a total of $895. He is by Gonski by Danehill, out of a mare Lots of Figures, by a Kenmare (Fr) stallion out of a Century mare. Looking closely at Smudge’s breeding, we see that his sire, Gonski is out of a mare by the Sir Tristram son and successful racehorse, Marauding (NZ). Sir Tristram was a popular sire amongst the jumping community, with Michelle Lang-McMahon’s World Championship mount, Odds On, being his flag bearer in the jumping paddock. Marauding was out of a Biscay mare and Biscay was the sire of Australian Sydney Olympic Team member, LL Zazu, ridden by Jamie Coman and his son, Biscay Wonder was the sire of Teammate, Ron Easey’s Rolling Thunder. On the dam line, there is My Babu on both the sire and dam line and he was revered, especially in the USA, as a producer of sport horses, most notably Bruce Davidson’s international eventer, JJ Babu.

Also, the great Nearco appears on the dam line as well. Sadly for his early connections, none of this breeding made Smudge a successful racehorse, but it has, with the help of Adam and Jervaise, made him a successful showjumper.

Secondary Science schoolteacher and successful Grand Prix rider, Adam from Rochester in Victoria begins Smudge’s story. “He was in a paddock about half an hour away from us and belonged to a friend’s girlfriend. She was moving interstate and did not want to take the horse with her. A real character, with loads of presence and a bold personality, was how she described him.

“At that time, late in 2016 Jervaise’s sister, Juanita, who lives in Sydney, wanted to get back into riding. She had a fair bit of experience and wanted an off the track horse. We went and had a look at him for her and took him. He stayed with us for about a month and we put a bit of work into him to make sure he was safe, and then we sent him up to Juanita. He spent the best part of eight months up there and Juanita called him Smudge, because he has a star that looks as if it has slipped sideways. Because we are sponsored by Saddle Up at Chirnside Park just out of Melbourne, he became Saddle Up Smudge. She just wanted something she could do a bit of dressage on and maybe hack out. That’s what she did with him and in the process fed him up and he became quite a bit more horse. She rang up one day and said he was too much horse for her. He wasn’t doing anything diabolical, he was just a fair bit of horse to ride. So he was back on the transport and down to us.

“I was pleased, because in that time we had him, I popped him over some cross rails and if he did happen to touch one, the next time he came through, he made sure he did not do it again. Back then, we stayed to our word and sent him up to Juanita, but he felt like a jumper from the start. We got him back in 2017 and gave him a bit of time off. Then we took him to some small country shows and did a few unofficial events like that.
“He came along quite quickly. Equitana in November 2018 had an OTT event and he jumped around fantastically and was in the placings. He was not at all fussed with the atmosphere; the people and the big screen etc. Smudge is an amazing animal. The challenges just kept coming and he just wanted to take them on and have a go. He’s always been brave and he’s always been careful.

“He continued well the following year and was placing in 1.30m classes and we were pretty happy with him, as he had progressed so well in two years. At the Australian Showjumping Championships at Boneo Park in November 2019, he had qualified for the 1.30m Off The Track Final. He had a rail down in the first round, so we were out of it. He just got down a line too easily. The great thing about Thoroughbreds is that they have so much motor. Smudge has an amazing amount of scope in his canter stride; it is just a matter of sitting on it and containing it. It is a good feeling to have when you are heading down to fences.

“We had the Yarra Valley Show and did a few shows early 2020 and we went up for the Canberra Cup in March, which turned out to be our last show before COVID shut us down. We went to Canberra mainly to give the kids some experience in Junior classes and Smudge was just going along for the ride. He jumped in the two main classes each day and ended up coming second to Stephen Dingwall and Cavalier Du Rouet in the Canberra Cup 1.35m class.

“We have been very lucky up here throughout the COVID lockdown. We are in a rural area and just an hour from Shepparton and the jump club have been able to run a few clinics and training days under COVID-Safe restrictions, so we have been able to consolidate his progress. Smudge is essentially a quiet horse and we intend to keep him at 1.30-1.40m to really establish his confidence and rideability before going to the next step.”

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