The 2016 edition of the FEI World Breeding Jumping Championships for Young Horses staged at the Zangersheide Stud in Belgium more than lived up to expectations, with massive entries of high-quality horses and edge-of-the-seat excitement in the competitions in all three categories.
The first title of the weekend went to the five-year-old KWPN stallion Garant, ridden by The Netherlands’ Willem Greve, while the Irish Sport Horse gelding Killossery Kaiden topped the six-year-old division with Ger O’Neill on board. Then, rounding up a great weekend of sport, it was the Zangersheide Studbook’s Think Twice lll Z who claimed the seven-year-old honours with Belgium’s Thierry Goffinet in the saddle.
The trademark “Z” of Zangersheide flew high over the four-day fixture which has been a key event in every breeding season for more than 20 years. Brainchild of the late Leon Melchior, it once again attracted massive crowds and this year enjoyed ideal weather conditions.
Five-Year-Olds
In the first 5YO qualifier, a total of 111 horses jumped clear from a field of 228 starters. As course designer Luc Musette explained, “It is not possible to build the fences any bigger, and the quality of the young horses ensures you have a lot going clear!” It was a bit tougher in the second qualifier with 74 clear from 225 starters, but today 20 of the 50 starters made the cut into the Final jump-off, so this was never going to be an easy one to win.
One of the sensations of the weekend was 16-year-old Irish schoolboy Michael Pender who first put the ISH mare Z Seven Canya Dance (Can Ya Makan/Cavalier Royale) into pole position with a foot-perfect run in 39.04 seconds, only to overtake his own target time with his second ride, Z Seven Caretina (Coltaire Z/Caretino) who broke the beam in 38.86. Michael seemed to have gold and silver in the bag until the last man in, the Netherlands’ Willem Greve, pushed him off the top step of the podium by finishing just 0.4 seconds faster with the KWPN stallion Garant (Warrant/Verdi TN).
“I bought the horse in May and my home rider competed him in some national shows. I think he is a real Grand Prix horse” said the Dutch gold medallist. “The course designer did a great job; it was difficult enough, the time was short but you didn’t see any horses crashing. If you wanted to go fast in the jump-off in the final, that was your own decision. I never went fast before with Garant, but I knew he had the quality to try it. If you come to these Championships you need a little bit of luck to get to the finals, but participating is already a super experience for the rider and the horse. I try to come here every year.”
Michael Pender was very happy with silver and bronze. “These medals are the biggest thing I’ve won until now – I’m still going to school, but I definitely want to be a professional rider!” said the young Irishman who was on the Irish team at the Junior European Championships this summer. “I had a win at Dublin Horse Show and I already did some jump-offs with my horses. They are careful and they have scope so I knew I could go for it today!”
Six-Year-Olds
The Irish had even more to celebrate when Gerard (‘Ger’) O’Neill produced the only clear in the jump-off to take the six-year-old title with the gelding Killossery Kaiden (Lux Z/Cruising). There were 65 clears from 264 starters in the first qualifier, in which the eventual champions finished fourth behind last year’s five-year-old bronze medallists Willem Greve and Formidable. There were 64 perfect runs in the second qualifier, in which a single error pinned the Irish pair into 93rd spot, but having made the cut into the final 40 they were the only ones to keep a clean sheet, Ger gambling on a careful round which paid dividends at the end of the day.
“I’ve been riding this horse for about 18 months now and he did well in the HSI series for young horses at home in Ireland, but I wasn’t so fast, so I didn’t really expect to win,” he said. “It’s my third time to ride here and now I have the gold medal so I’m pretty happy! This is a great show with super courses and fantastic organisation.”
From County Kilkenny in Ireland, Ger is a regular producer of top-class horses and a successful and respected competitor on the national circuit. Among the many horses he has produced are Zigali PS (who competed successfully for 2008 Olympic champion Eric Lamaze of Canada and who is now campaigned by Maria Ortega Perez from Spain), and the brilliant mare Castlefield Eclipse, who has been the backbone of Swiss teams for many years with Paul Estermann in the saddle.
The silver medal went to the KWPN gelding Fernando (Zapatero VDL/Larino) ridden by Julian de Boer (NED), whose time of 35.53 was more than 10 seconds faster than the winner’s, but who left a fence on the floor in the last round. Julian, who lives in the north of Holland, was riding his grandfather’s horse, and as fate would have it his success was a bit random. “Normally I would have left yesterday but I stayed for the party, and this morning I put the horses on the truck but I delayed leaving because a rider withdrew and I was the first reserve. I got a call to ask if I wanted to ride in the final, so I took the horse off the truck again and now I have the silver medal!”
Bronze medallist Thierry Goffinet from Belgium was understandably disappointed because his costly single error with the BWP gelding Kannabis van de Bucxtale was unexpected. “My horse was second at the Belgian Championships and has been jumping super at international shows. The fence I had down in the jump-off today is the first fence he has knocked down this year in competition!”
Seven-Year-Olds
There were 63 clear rounds from 189 starters in the first qualifier for this division, but just 42 in the second competition, in which five horses were eliminated and 10 were retired. Just five made it through to the jump-off and the three medallists all went double-clear, Belgium’s Thierry Goffinet claiming gold with the mare Think Twice lll Z, who is by Toulon out of Portuguese rider Luciana Diniz’s wonderful horse Winningmood.
“Think Twice is a super horse, we won the Belgian Championships in Lummen this year and finished in the Criterium for Seven-Year-Olds, so this is a very consistent jumping horse,” said Thierry. “She can be fast, we knew that, but I didn’t go crazy in the jump-off. I only pushed to the last fence and that was enough to take the win.”
Silver went to another mare, the BWP grey Jeleena de Muze (Tornedo FCS/Chin Chin) ridden by Stephex Stables’ star rider, Lorenzo de Luca. “I’m only riding this horse since the Knokke show in July and we were first to go. We have not competed in many shows together so I didn’t know her so well,” said the Italian rider who was still well-pleased with his result.
Bronze went to the bay KWPN gelding Everest (Carambole/Indoctro). He was ridden by Dutchman Luc Steeghs, who said: “The horse is owned by a Lebanese family and I am training him for the children to ride. He was bought as a four-year-old at the Hendrix auction.” Talking about the courses tackled by horses and riders all week, he added, “Medals could have been won by a lot of different horses here – little mistakes, one day going clear and the next day having one down could make all the difference, but the standard has to be high because this, after all, is a World Championship for young horses, so it has to be testing!”
Five-Year-Old Final: GOLD – Garant (William Greve) NED 0/0 38.46; SILVER – Z Seven Caretina (Michael Pender) IRL 0/0 38.86; BRONZE – Z Seven Canya Dance (Michael Pender) IRL 0/0 39.04.
Six-Year-Old Final: GOLD – Killossery Kaiden (Gerard O’Neill) IRL 0/0 47.85; SILVER – Fernando V (Julian de Boer) NED 0/4 35.53; BRONZE – Kannabis van de Bucxtale (Thierry Goffinet) BEL 0/4 40.02.
Seven-Year-Old Final: GOLD – Think Twice lll Z (Thierry Goffinet) BEL 0/0 40.06; SILVER – Jeleena de Muze (Lorenzo de Luca) ITA 0/0 40.73; BRONZE – Everest (Luc Steeghs) NED 0/0 42.12.
Full results here
