Biography

It will be a third visit to Badminton for British rider Dani Evans (26) who last competed here in 2016 with Smart Time with who she gained her first Badminton completion.

2017 did not get off to a good start for Dani who was side-lined after re-breaking a leg the result of a fall in her first event of the season. She then concentrated on lower events before taking on the bigger fences later in the year. The season ended on a good note; she won the five-year-old BE championship with Hollywood Dancer and was fifth at Boekelo with Badminton entry Smart Time.

Dani, who is based near Pensford, Bristol, has been a member of British Junior and Young Rider teams; in 2009 riding Uchin she was the European Junior silver medallist and  in 2011 the pair won team gold. In 2012 with Raphael II she won individual bronze at the European Young Rider Championships in Malmo and in 2013 was runner up in the British U25 Championships at Bramham. That year she won the Under-25 two-star at Tattersalls with Smart Time and in 2015 the pair was second in the Under-25 Championship at Bramham while she was also third with Raphael.

Dani left school at 16 and for three years worked for her Uncle, agent and producer Tim Warren (now the leader of the Bath and North East Somerset Council) at his Bristol yard as part of the Warren Eventing team. At the end of 2011 she moved to the Billy Stud where she spent a year with William and Pippa Funnell.

In 2015 Dani was due to make her senior team debut at the European Championships but had to withdraw just a day before the event as the horse was not well. At the end of the season the pair was the recipient of the BE Britannia League – for riders not to have represented Team GB in a major championship – and Dani was also third in the League, that is decided at three-star level, with Raphael II. She has represented GB in Nations cup Teams. Dani trains with Ros Morgan and enjoys hunting, training and teaching and a ski holiday during the off-season.

Smart Time, is a 14-year-old grey Irish Sport Horse gelding of unknown breeding. He was brought to the UK from Ireland by Tim Warren of Warren Eventing, where at the time Dani was working and producing horses. He was then bought for Polly Wiliamson who produced him to intermediate level, then ridden to two-star by Gubby Leech before Dani took the ride at the end of 2012.  In 2013 they were individuals at the Young Rider European championships and in 2015 were second in the Under-25 championship at Bramham and selected as members of the British sqaud for the European Championship. Smart Time completed Badminton in 2016. ‘He’s small but mighty’