If any show can bring sport and breeding together, it is the young horse championships which attracts not only the riders, the trainers and the owners but also the breeders and the horse dealers and everyone else who loves getting blown away by young talented horses.

Horses of other Warmblood breeds than Danish Warmblood can compete in the Danish Equestrian Federation’s Young Horse Championships which means that many of the best young horses from foreign studbooks will compete at the finals.

In the dressage arena one will see the new five-year-old world champion Jovian (KWPN), the double world champion and now seven-year old D’Avie (Hann) as well as the former world champion and now six-year-old Revolution (Westf) who took silver in Ermelo this year, so the Danish bred horses are up against the toughest competion one can imagine.

Qualified for the dressage finals are 40 horses aged four, 20 in each age group for five- and six-year-olds, and 12 horses aged seven.

The group of four-year-olds always attracts a lot of attention as this is where you will find the next year’s top horses for the DWB finals in Herning and for the Danish team to go to the 2020 FEI-WBFSH world championships in Verden. This group includes a number of licensed stallions and some of the best mares from the DWB Elite Show last year.

Last year’s four-year-old champion was the Swedish-born Springbank II VH (Skovens Rafael) who will be competing in a very strong field which includes world champion Jovian (Apache), and the bronze medalist from Ermelo, Queenparks Wendy (Sezuan), among others.

In the field for six-year-olds, the world-renowned stallion Revolution (Rocky Lee) will be defending his championship titles under the saddle of top rider Andreas Helgstrand, who has another medalist from Ermelo in this class, the American-owned gelding Zhaplin Langholt (Zonik).

Former bronze and silver medalist from Ermelo, Hesselhøj Donkey Boy (ERA Dancing Hit) holds a very special show record from the Danish Equestrian Federation’s Young Horse Championships as he won the finals in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and for the last two years D’Avie (Don Juan de Hus) has been a very close competitor to Donkey Boy. In Ermelo this year, they were so close that Donkey Boy would probably have won had he not made a mistake in the canter. Therefore, these two world class stallions will, once again, find themselves going head-to-head in a very equal and exciting fight for gold. They are ridden by Danish Jan Møller Christensen and Spanish Severo Jurado Lopez, respectively.

Qualified for the finals for show jumpers are 52 horses in the age group for four-year-olds, 43 aged six, and 28 seven-year-olds, and although Danish Warmblood has a greater tradition for breeding dressage horses than showjumpers, a good many of the finalists are Danish Warmbloods.

Among them are the Danish contestants from the FEI-WBFSH world championships in Lanaken, including a number of horses who produced clear rounds at Zangersheide, such as the six-year-old stallion Cyrano Ask (Ci Ci Senjor Ask), the six-year-old mare Chinett Ask (Ci Ci Senjor Ask) and, last but not least, the six-year-old mare Lugranda (Luganer), who won the Danish finals for five-year-olds last year.

In the five-year-old age group, Kasper H. Hansen’s Katrinelund Satisfaction (Sandro’s Adel) comes back to defend his championship title from last year. He is one of the Danish horses that made a big impression at Zangersheide.

The Danish Equestrian Federation’s Young Horse Championships take place from October 10-13 at Blue Hors in Randbøl.