NEWS
Bramham Horse Trials, 5-8th June 2008
Musto‘s latest sponsored rider, Matthew Wright, finished a admirable 3rd on John Peace’s French-bred nine-year old L’Aristo Du Lado.
Matthew was up with the pace being placed 5th after dressage – then dropped to 12th after cross country notching up 11.2 time-faults, ‘I was on the time to the last minute-marker, but he just tired up the last hill’, said Matthew. The pair then rocketed back up to third with a clear show jumping round.
Matthew stated, ‘I think he’s the best horse I’ve sat on.’
At the age of 24, Matthew Wright is already an internationally renowned Three Day Event Rider and is classed by British Eventing to be one of the UK’s most promising young rider talents. He is a member of the Great Britain Team, BE's World Class Programme and has both forthcoming Olympic and World Equestrian Games 2010 ambitions.
The son of horse dealers, equestrianism is clearly in the Wright family blood and his family have always been his biggest supporters. Matthew first sat on a pony at 18 months old and rode any and every pony that came along throughout his youth. The hard work and experience paid off; by the age of 12 he’d won the Pony Club Championships and had earned genuine respect for his dedication to the sport.
Matthew’s successes continued as a British Eventing Young Rider, including representing Great Britain at the Young Rider European Championships in 2002, finishing 6th on Park Pilot and helping the team bring home a silver medal. In the same year he also made his Burghley CCI**** debut.
The following year, aged 20, he made his Badminton CCI**** debut with a clear round cross country on All The Best II and finishing a respectable 28th. A month later, after finishing 4th at Bramham CCI***, he was selected for the GB Young Rider Team once again, but an injury to his horse meant he was unable to compete.
2004 proved to be another fabulous season including 9th finish at Badminton CCI**** with Mallards Treat and 2nd at Blenheim CCI*** on Park Pilot. His consistent performances at 3* with Park Pilot resulted in selection for the 2005 European Championships where he made his senior international debut, competing as an individual for Great Britain. In 2005 he campaigned a remarkable 60 horses!
Matthew’s results record remained consistent throughout 2006, achieving 5th in the national rankings and 15th in the world, and again included many excellent CCI*** placings, strong appearances at Badminton and Burghley CCI**** and complemented a strategic move to halve his number of rides to concentrate on quality not quantity. 2007 has earmarked the next big development in Matthew’s already stunning career as he has taken on responsibility for the Caunton Manor Stud horses, adding a further stream of excellence to his yard and yet more great results.
Down to earth Matthew is still based at the yard in Nottinghamshire that his family built brick-by-brick and rides a range of horses from Intro to CCI****. In a sport where riders don’t typically peak until their thirties and forties, Matthew is already a formidable force and truly is one to watch over the coming months and years.
