By Agata Grosicka
Photography: Dava Palej, Oliwia Chmielewska
Since his victory in the 2015 showjumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses in Lanaken in the seven-year-old age-group under the saddle of Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet, it’s become clear that the Polish-bred MJT Nevados (Calvados Z - Nestia S sp x Romualdo [KWPN]) is a horse of great potential.
Bred in 2008 by the late Stanislaw Szurik in Liszkowo Horse Stud in the north-western part of Poland, this powerful grey was already competing successfully and winning medals at the Polish championships for young horses under his then rider Jacek Zagor. His breeder then decided that Gregory Wathelet – one of the best and most experienced Belgian showjumpers – would be the one to present the horse in the international showjumping arenas. Did he make the right decision? The answer is pretty simple.
I had a pleasure of watching team Wathelet-Nevados on a couple of occasions, including their gold medal ride during the team competition at the 2019 European championship in Rotterdam. They were the team’s anchor duo, and in order to preserve the gold medal for Belgium, could only afford one fence penalty – but eventually went clear in exceptional style.
This is how Gregory Wathelet described the performance of his stallion: “Right now he is a great fighter and gives 100% or even more. During the second round of the team contest I could feel that he was there with me completely and I was really confident we could do it.
I started riding Nevados when he was six years old. I knew from the very beginning that he was a horse of the great potential. He is very careful, yet very sensitive so I gave him more time to mature. One-and-a-half years ago I started trusting him over the big fences and it became easier to resolve small problems.”
No wonder MJT Nevados S is currently one of the most popular stallions among Polish breeders and is also gaining recognition abroad. His first generations of offspring, now between the ages of three and five years, have already been competing at various breeding championships throughout Poland presenting the powerful showjumping genes.
And what genes exactly are we talking about? His sire is Calvados Z – an excellent showjumping stallion out of Chellano Z, while his dam is the chestnut mare Nestia S sp 2004 (Romualdo). Still active in breeding, this elegant mare is living proof that it is the mares you breed with who are the most important part of the breeding equation.
Nestia S has also produced other talented colts with high potential, including Notting Hill S (Cornet Obolensky) who, at the age of three months, reached the price of €44,000 during the last Flanders Foal Auction in Belgium, and Nottingham S (Glasgow van’t Merelsnest), who won the 2018 Jaruzyn Breeding Championships in the category of foals with mother. Both colts were bred by Hubert Szurik, the son of the late Stanislaw Szurik...To read the complete article you need to be a subscriberCLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO BREEDING NEWS
SUBSCRIBERS CAN READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY LOGGING IN AND RETURNING TO THIS PAGE