By Sally Reid
Photography: © Courtesy Luke Dee and Fiona Hall; Cornege Photography
A pair of NZ-bred mares and an eight-year-old German-bred gelding were the stars of this year’s NZL FEI World Cup Jumping Series, and the result was so close that a countback was required between the top two nominated horses: LT Holst Freda (Colman - LT Holst Andrea x Casall) and Gangster WW (Grand Slam VDL - Korsika x Kannan) who tied on identical scores of 63.
In a case like this, the overall victory is decided by the number of wins, and went to LT Holst Freda who had two. Gangster had just one – though it must be said that his single win was outright, while Freda’s were by default. However, it was the non-nominated mare, Benrose Stellar (Lordano - Solano x Senator VDL), who excelled in the series, with back-to-back wins in the last two legs, a second in the opening leg, and no finish lower than fourth. More about her at the foot of this story.
The fabulous LT Holst Freda
This beautiful 10-year-old mare has been watched and admired since her four-year-old debut with owner Julie Davey; her World Cup win is well deserved. Davey describes her as “very careful”, and she has been consistently good throughout her jumping career. She was the National four-year-old champion and style-prize winner in 2014, had several age-group wins as a five-year-old in 2019-20; finished third in her six-year-old series, and in 2022 won the National seven-year-old championship and style prize. Last season, the NZL World Cup series was won by her dam, the brilliant LT Holst Andrea (Casall - Palaune x Lavaletto) with Freda finishing in second place, making it seem even more appropriate that she’s taken the top spot this year.
LT Holst Freda not only excelled in the NZL league this season; she won a leg of the Australian series (at Tamworth) with the only double clear, finished fourth in the Sydney leg, and sixth at Bawley Point. Soon after returning home to New Zealand, she won a Grand Prix in Hastings – again, with the only double-clear.
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