Talk about making money on the horses. An Oxfordshire stud has hit lucky with a stallion called Silvester — who is now enjoying an idyllic life of bliss with the mares and at the same time making a profit for his owners.

Progeny from Silvester has won elite status at the Baileys Horse Feeds/British Equestrian Federation (BEF) Futurity Evaluations, establishing the Wendlebury Gate Stud as a leading future provider of potential sport horses and ponies – destined for careers in eventing and showjumping.

Stud owner Hazel Offord said: “There could even be Olympic champions of the future here.” She added: “With stallions, however good, you never know if their foals will also show promise. We have been lucky and Silvester’s progeny is exceptional. “His foals took highest marks at the evaluations in Solihull.”

But surely more than luck is at play here? Skill in building up the stud and selecting the horses must also be among the secrets of success at Wendlebury Gate, near Bicester? Certainly long dedication to all things horsey has played its part in building up the business.

The stud was founded in 2006, having grown out of the adjacent Wendlebury Gate Stables and Riding School – which Ms Offord, together with her parents Ann and John established in 1988 – when Ms Offord was 19.

Ms Offord explained: “I left school at 16 and went to work at a nearby stables training locally within a job for my British Horse Society (BHS) exams and my Pony Club A Test.” She added: “I always knew what I wanted to do in life – work with horses. I remember telling my careers master at school (who suggested I should become a vet) that I wanted to make a living by doing what I enjoyed on the holidays.” With the help of her parents she then established a riding school and stables at the home, which had an acre of land, that the family had bought in 1981. She said: “Gradually we were lucky enough to acquire more land from neighbouring farmers.” Now the stables and stud has nine staff on its 20-acre site and a horse population of between 20-30. Many of the horses are what are called “competition liveries”, which I am told means, in non-horsey speak, that they belong to other people but are boarding there to be trained to compete at shows.

As for the stud side of the business, Wendlebury Gate has six brood mares on the premises with ancestors famous enough in horse circles to act as magnets for potential buyers of foals. They are: Cathargo’s Darco, Demonstrator, Broadstone Chicago, Lucky Boy, Kuwait Beach and Primitive Rising. Ms Offord said: “We have had exceptionally good young stock sales. We have three foals just weaned and ready for sale. The average sale price is about £5,900.” Has the recession affected the sales? “You have to balance the recession against our rising reputation.

But really the sales are still very good indeed. As we are now in the top end of the industry there is still plenty of money around, from people who want the best. And we sell only to private buyers. “They are much better informed than they used to be and more particular. They know all about the importance of bloodlines.“

These days buyers are experts and have studied horses’ pedigrees, with the help of the Internet, before they come along. But the pride of the stud remains Silvester and the foals he has sired. Two foals, Cathargo’s Darco and Silver Socks, were given the ‘elite premiums’ status by the BEF, which means that the foals have been officially recognised as having Olympic potential. Ms Offord said: “I am so pleased with the foals. Silvester is a hugely-popular stallion and results such as this really do show why he is.”

BEF head of equine development Jan Rogers added: “The Futurity evaluation continues to grow and be shaped by feedback we receive and is developing into an assessment the British horse world recognises as a valuable indicator of future performance talent.” The stud is a family affair. Ms Offord’s father, a retired businessman, now races around the stud on his quadbike mending fences and tacking other chores. Meanwhile, her mother helps with the accounts.

Ms Offord and husband Mason Bradshawe, a farmer at nearby Grendon Underwood, who has frequently found himself dragged into the affairs of the stud and stables, live on site in the original family house with their three-year-old daughter Hannah — who I suspect must already know more about the horse world than many adults. Web: www.wgstud.co.uk