By Jo de Roo
Photography: FEI/Hippo Foto Media-Dirk Caremans
The World Championship titles for five-, six- and seven-year-olds have been awarded. In terms of studbook success, KWPN, Studbook Zangersheide, Irish Sport Horse and Belgian Warmblood each won two of the nine medals, with KWPN spectacularly claiming two gold.
As usual, the eyes of Irish riders were once again smiling, as Michael ‘Mikey’ Pender and Eoin Brennan won gold, Niamh McEvoy won silver, and Jason Foley bronze. The 16-year-old Belgian rider Niels Van Rossem became the crowd favourite and certainly pulled off a remarkable stunt to win silver with the aptly named seven-year-old Speedy van Klapscheut.
Gold for ‘Mikey’ with 5yo KWPN HHS Private Ryan
On a sunny last day, the showjumping World Breeding Championships for Young Horses took place in front of a large crowd, and kicked off with the five-year-old final. The 1m30 course with a jump-off was set by Bernard Mathy and his team, and saw a total of 49 qualified combinations, of which 18 left the arena with zero faults, and nine also performed impeccably in the jump-off.
Producing the fastest time, Michael Pender scored a well-deserved victory riding the KWPN-registered gelding HHS Private Ryan/aka Private Entrepreneur d’Or, owned by Marta Hughes-Bravo. The HHS prefix represents Hughes Horse Stud, and Marta is the daughter of the owners, Marion Hughes and Miguel Bravo. Private Entrepreneur d’Or was bred in the Netherlands by M. van der Velde by crossing El Barone 111 Z with La Vie d’Or (2016: High Shutterfly). Private Ryan is the eldest offspring of La Vie d’Or, whose dam Esta d’Or is by the well-know progenitor Heartbreaker, and also produced the AES-approved stallion Inventa d’Or, with whom Irishman Denis Lynch was very successful in international young horse classes in 2020 and 2021.
Esta d’Or is a full sister to Farno d’Or, who has been competing at international 1m50 Grand Prix level in the USA since earlier this year, in partnership with Tracy Fenney. Esta d’Or is also a half-sister to the two-star Grand Prix horse Ibella Baloubet (Bellabaloubet). This traditionally Dutch Nomana lineage also includes, for example, the five-star showjumper Eblesse.
Almost a month before the World Championship in Lanaken, Michael ‘Mikey’ Pender competed in three competitions for five- and six-year-olds in Ireland with HHS Private Ryan, achieving a double clear round each time and also winning one.
Pender himself is no novice at the Lanaken WBCYH having become world champion in 2023 with the five-year-old HHS Ocala, last year winning another gold with the seven-year-old HHS Mercedes, and now a third successive world title. During the press conference, he said of HHS Private Ryan: “Last year he didn’t compete much. I have only been riding this horse for about six weeks. Big thanks to everybody at home and everybody along the way. From starting him, breaking him in, doing his first shows, getting him here is a long way. It’s brilliant when you get a day like this.” Asked about his plan for the jump-off, he replied; “Ryan is very fast and started last, so I knew a little bit what I had to do. He’s naturally very fast, so I just had to try to keep it steady, and luckily it was a good plan.”
Dutch rider Doron Kuipers won the silver medal riding the chestnut mare Olympic van’t Roosakker VK Z, bred by M. van Kleef (van Kleef studfarm) and registered with Studbook Zangersheide. Olympic is sired by the sport stallion/BWP champion stallion Minute Man/aka O’Neill van’t Eigenlo. Olympic’s dam, Ikea van’t Roosakker, is a daughter of the Olympic stallion For Pleasure out of the five-star Grand Prix mare Electra van’t Roosakker, in other words a member of the famous Usha van ’t Roosakker dynasty (BWP damline 100). Ikea has already produced a series of successful showjumpers, including L’Esprit Hero Z, Lexicon II van’t Roosakker, and O’ Mega H&DB...
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