Why You Should Look Beyond the Leaderboard at Le Lion d’Angers
A year ago, New York finished 50th of 50 at Le Lion. Sam Lissington bought him anyway, and he is now competing at four-star. As this year’s young horse champions are crowned, we look at what a Le Lion result really tells you about a horse’s future.
A year ago, New York finished 50th of 50 finishers at Le Lion. Sam Lissington bought him anyway.
Le Lion d’Angers is the Young Horse World Championships, and the sport’s biggest young horse shop window. This year’s six- and seven-year-olds are already out in Angers. The champions are crowned on Sunday.
Riders, owners and buyers will all be watching the leaderboard. But a weekend at Le Lion is one result in a young horse’s career, and often not the one that matters most.
Since then, New York has stepped up to four-star with Sam. His Elo has gone from 259 to 485. He is not the exception. Of the Le Lion horses that went on to complete a five-star, more than a third finished outside the top 20 here.
The result sheet will tell you who won. It won’t tell you who to buy.
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Where did New York finish in his first long format with Sam? Tap to reveal ▾1st. The CCI3*-L at Strzegom in April, on 32.9. Six months after finishing last at Le Lion. |
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From last to first New York, October 2025 to now |
Seventy horses started the seven-year-old championship at Le Lion last year. Fifty finished. New York was 50th, the last of every horse that completed, on 137 penalties, 60 of them on cross-country.
Sam wanted a horse to bridge the gap from three-star to four-star. She had done it a year earlier with Lucas Stone, bought on his record. This time there was no record worth buying.
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This one is not one where performance has been the reason why I have selected it. I saw a few qualities in his performance, even though it wasn’t on paper a good performance, that I could work with.
Samantha Lissington
His Elo had been falling before Le Lion. It has gone up after every run since.
New York’s Elo after each run. Le Lion with Ricardo Montalvo Sanchez, all other runs with Samantha Lissington.
What’s Elo? Tap to read ▾
Elo is the EquiRatings rating that tracks a horse’s career performance. It climbs based on who they beat and falls based on who beats them — the higher the number, the better. Because it reads the whole record, one bad day moves it less than a run of good ones.
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What a Le Lion placing tells you 1,264 horses, Le Lion 2008–2022 |
New York is one horse. We tracked every horse that ran at Le Lion between 2008 and 2022 through the rest of their international careers.
Placing does matter. Nine in ten podium horses went on to complete a four-star, and one in three a five-star. But below the podium, the picture flattens. The rest of the top ten reached five-star just as often, and one in six horses from outside the top 20 still got there.
Share of Le Lion finishers who went on to complete a CCI5* (including championships) to date, by finishing position at their first Le Lion. 2008–2022; 2012 is not in the dataset.
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Le Lion winners from 2008 to 2022 went on to complete a five-star
A low placing is no barrier either. 250 of those horses went on to complete a five-star. 93 of them finished outside the top 20 at Le Lion. 57 had a cross-country jumping penalty there.
That is why the leaderboard is the wrong place to stop. A Le Lion placing tells you how one weekend went for a six- or seven-year-old. It does not tell you what that horse will become. Buy on the result alone and you would have walked past these:
Le Lion result at each horse’s first appearance. Later results are at five-star level, including Olympic and World Championships.
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Of the 250 future five-star horses, how many didn’t finish Le Lion at all? Tap to reveal ▾24. More than three times the number of Le Lion winners who made it in the same window. |
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Performance and potential The data, and the people who read it |
EquiRatings Horse Sourcing is led by two championship riders, founder Sam Watson and Samantha Lissington, with the EquiRatings analysis team. The data filters the market. Their eye tests what it finds.
Sam’s two recent buys show both halves at work.
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Lucas Stone 362 → 617 Elo since Sam bought him. Data first, from a draft of 124. |
New York 259 → 485 Elo since Sam bought him. Eye first, the numbers followed. |
Lucas Stone came through a search. He was in Finland, with a 6RA over 36 and strong jumping numbers. He went on to win the CCI4*-L at Strzegom and compete at the World Championships in Aachen.
Lucas Stone and Samantha Lissington at the FEI World Championships in Aachen, August 2026.
New York came the other way.
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There’ll be a lot of horses that we look at that have amazing performances, and I watch and think it might be a little bit limited. And then you have the opposite.
Samantha Lissington
A buyer gets both: the numbers, and riders who know what to look for in them.
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Founder Sam Watson Olympic rider with 11 senior championships. Leads the sourcing advisory team. |
Horse sourcing Samantha Lissington Five-star and World Championship rider for New Zealand. Reviews every shortlisted horse on video. |
Project manager Rozzie Bainbridge, a former Junior and Young Rider European Championship rider, makes the calls to owners and riders. Only the top 1% of suitable horses make a buyer’s draft.
Sam is riding at Le Lion this weekend too, on Orenzo in the seven-year-olds.
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Le Lion 2026, every horse rated The six- and seven-year-olds, live |
EquiRatings Horse Sourcing
Look past the leaderboard
Our Le Lion 2026 guide covers every horse in both classes: form, OBP, breeding, last three runs, Le Lion record and live dressage. Next year’s New York is in there somewhere.
EXPLORE THE GUIDE →Find your next horse
The horse behind the result
Performance data on 8,000+ horses, a call to every rider, and advice from Sam Watson and Samantha Lissington.
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