Analysis by Claartje van Andel: While the typical Dutch harness horses used to close a week of Dutch breeding highlights, this edition saw them at the start of the week which was celebrating KWPN breeding highlights in foals, mares, and young horses under saddle. Exceptional was the gender of the three PAVO Cup-winners in dressage: All mares! Also quite exceptional was the challenge for the best three-year-old dressage mares – two mares from two different owners met each other again after they had also each come face to face against the highest-placed stallions at the KWPN Stallion Show this past Spring. But not before the same owner had bred the stallion show champion as well as the champion mare!
Let’s first consider this class of new three-year-old KWPN studbook ‘princesses’ – starting with the exceptional story of dressage-mares with Jatilinda (All At Once - Atilinda keur IBOP-dres sport-dres pref x Negro x Krack C) owned and bred by Stal 104 in Wijdewormer. Stal 104 bred the stallion champion of this year, Jameson RS2 (Blue Hors Zack x Negro x Krack C) who will participate in the selection test this autumn. He was born from an embryo, bought by RS2 at the Prin- sjesdag auction. Willeke Bos of Stal 104 bred A-register mare Jatalinda using a stallion that wasn’t yet KWPN- approved, All at Once (Gribaldi x Ampère), approved in Westfalia and Han- nover. “Because I liked Jatalinda to attend the KWPN breeding shows and she is an A-register mare, I simply had to do the IBOB test with her. She was rewarded with nines for all her gaits and her talent for dressage, she is so easy and nice to handle”, Willeke Bos said.
Chair Marjan Dorresteijn was full of praise for Jatalinda: “She moved with a lot of electricity, technique and posture each time that she was presented for another convincing round.” And, on his side, Willeke Bos praised KWPN for choosing a descendant from a stallion not yet approved by KWPN as the champion mare.
It was the more remarkable that Junette RS2 (De Niro - Unette II keur pref x Gribaldi, bred by René Franssen from Boven- Leeuwen) placed second. Owned by RS2 Dressage Center de Horst in Groesbeek, whose owner had already presented last year’s champion mare: Ivenez Texel (Negro x Krack C, bred by W. van der Linde) Many from the audience prefered this half-sister of the deceased KWPN-approved stallion Estoril (Zhivago x Gribaldi), also related to Grand Prix horses Byoux (Le Mexico - ] Nannet ster pref prest x Hurricane) and Kingston (Voltaire - Gisnette keur pref prest x Burggraaf), shown by Anne Franssen and Leslie Morse (USA), respectively, plus 12 more Grand Prix horses bred by the 2015 breeder of the year, René Franssen. In the top placings of the final were also mares descending from Desperado x Metall, Charmeur x Sir Sin- clair, Everdale x Riverman and Ferdeau x Dayano...
