Charley-Ann Crockart’s Rise to Glory, and How She’s Future-Proofing Her String

Zimbabwean-born Charley-Ann Crockart is fast becoming one of the most exciting riders on the South African showjumping circuit with her incredible pace in the competition arena and her strong ability to produce young horses and talented riders. Over the course of the last year, she’s been a regular fixture in news reports, with highlights including her return to the 1.50m ranks and her regular new additions to her string, from competitive rides to self-bred talents. Her journey has been a long one, but her hard work and dedication are now bearing fruit. We look back on her past, her present success, and how she’s future-proofing her string for future success.

2017 was the year that marked a big change of direction for Charley-Ann and the CC Equestrian team. After several trips back and forth to South Africa to compete, Charley-Ann decided to relocate CC Equestrian to a new home base in Sun Valley, Gauteng; a self-built facility that saw the whole CC Equestrian team pull together to create a fantastic base of operations that would see Charley-Ann’s riders become regular fixtures on the Kyalami show circuit. With the constant support of her mom, Penny Crockart, who has also been a great entertainer throughout the whole process with her comedic interviews published on Facebook, Charley-Ann has received the greatest support in pursuing her showjumping dreams from her family, friends, clients, and coach, Dominey Alexander.

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After Charley-Ann’s first 1.50m victory with her then equine partner, Epomein, at the Kyalami Park Club Christmas Show, incorporating the Outdoor Grand Prix, she shared a message of thanks to those who had helped on her journey including her mom, her coach, and her grandmother who was the lady that encouraged Charley-Ann to pursue her equestrian career.

After a lifelong riding career, Charley-Ann – still based in Zimbabwe at the time – made her international debut in the 1.50m category, according to the FEI, in 2011 with her partner, Intercooler. Since then, she has continued to be a regular competitor in the open grades with several equine partners including Fantastic Flight, Runrigs Gangster, and Joker. While for a number of years Charley-Ann wasn’t at the highest levels of the sport, she was a regular at major events locally and always brought her A-game. Charley was always competitive, always game for a fancy dress or six-bar event, and was always incredibly grateful for the opportunities she was given – one of the sport’s friendliest personalities.

Her move to Gauteng has been a successful one with many great partnerships being formed and her reputation in the industry growing stronger. Things really came right for her when she partnered with owners Stan and Leoni van der Burgh, which afforded her the opportunity to compete on talented imports including Divalta, Bibi Bloksburg, and Epomein before the mare was sold to Govett Triggol. While Epomein might have moved on, the partnership with The Burgh Equestrian, while no longer in effect, has still yielded one last exciting prospect for the future, with Charley-Ann taking ownership of the young stallion Compagnon (Comme il Faut). Alongside this exciting prospect, Charley-Ann also owns another top-quality stallion, Legend (Mr Blue) who has already begun attracting a lot of attention and excitement in the showjumping community.

Committed to building a string for the future, Charley-Ann has been dabbling in breeding as well, and with coach Dominey’s expertise in the field, as well as her own history of producing youngsters, a number of exciting prospects are in the pipeline. At present, CC Equestrian is home to several youngsters including Laphroaig (Lord Derby), 2 Epomein embryos currently in foal, a Grandorado X Cortina (Comme il Faut) pregnancy, and a few recently-announced additions including the Dutch-based yearling, Ophelia (Chilli Willi). After the purchase of Ophelia, Charley-Ann reached out to The JumpOff to share the news of a further addition from Holland, Pianess – a foal by Verdi out of an Eldorado mare and a lovely long-term project for Charley-Ann and the CC Equestrian team alongside the 3rd addition from Holland, courtesy of Melanie Luick-Martens, a young stallion named Nemesis who is currently in the process of his quarantine to South Africa where he will begin his backing and competitive career with Charley-Ann. In addition to this, she has several youngsters who are all based in KwaZulu-Natal at present.

On the competitive side, the most recent addition to her competitive string is the self-bred gelding, Pachedu who is by Padinus out of a Nabab de Reve mare. A “true survivor and fighter” according to Charley-Ann, the beginning of this 4-year-old’s career is an exciting and rewarding achievement for the whole CC Equestrian team. But it’s not just a crop of youngsters on their way, as 2021 has created more opportunities for Charley-Ann with the addition of Callaho Lorenzo (Lissabon) to her string. Owned by Ireland-based owner, Laurence Mowatt, Charley-Ann has taken over the ride from Cailin McDonald, who successfully competed Lorenzo in the 1.35m height categories before taking a break from riding due to the recent announcement of her pregnancy. The new partnership with the 10-year-old gelding, Lorenzo, has started off well as the new pair have skipped around the 1.35m tracks and are seemingly cementing a strong bond.

To top off the start of an exciting new year, Charley-Ann has also picked up a new ride from team RotoFlo International, Capital Kenia Z (Kannan). With RotoFlo International expanding and creating a new base for themselves in Belgium, where Kelly O’Connor will be located with RotoFlo Capital Kamron and RotoFlo Capital Moonlight, the young, equine superstars that remain in South Africa have been distributed among some of the best riders in our country for schooling and Charley-Ann Crockart is one on them. RotoFlo Capital Kenia Z was purchased off the 2019 Capital Warmblood Stud Auction as is one of the youngest horses in the RotoFlo team. Coupled with her incredible bloodlines (Kannan X Quick Star), the partnership with Charley-Ann is an exciting opportunity as her abilities, competitiveness, and horsemanship indicate surefire success for this new pairing.

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