By Jo de Roo
Photography: Jo de Roo
On July 30, the 17th edition of the Antwerp Foal Championship again attracted a large number of participants and spectators to Pulderbos. With almost 170 registered foals, this is one of the largest BWP/BRp foal championships in Belgium. So, who are the winning showjumping foals and who are their breeders?
Wicked vd Leeuwerkheide triumphed among the older male showjumping foals who was bred by Roel Aernouts (a self-employed specialist in floor, tile and masonry work) and his stepdaughter Eveline Voermans. Wicked is a son of Replay van’t Paradijs, out of the mare Bonetra vd Leeuwerk, about whom Aernouts said: “She is by Viënto Uno W (Numero Uno x Caesar van de Helle). I bought her two years ago. There is little performance in her dam line, but I do know that she is a very nice mare. She produced three well-made foals with her previous owner, Rudy Adams. Additional reasons for my purchase were Bonetra’s very good mentality, great willingness to work, and golden character. I’ve always believed in Bonetra. One of her oldest descendants, Coltplay Z, is a Corico Z son with whom the Norwegian Victoria Gulliksen participates in international showjumping competitions for five-year-olds.” Checking the FEI database shows us that Coltplay Z has not made a single mistake around courses, so far.
To date, Aernouts has bred two foals out of Bonetra, being Udger vd Leeuwerkheide (Comme le Père) and Wicked vd Leeuwerkheide. “I own both of them,” he said. “Udger became vice champion on March 12 this year during a free jumping competition organized by BWP Hoogstraten.” He added a little-known fact; “Udger’s sire is stationed as a breeding stallion with Ludger Beerbaum. Since the first letter of the 2020 BWP vintage had to start with ‘U’, we named the foal Udger.” Bonetra is in foal again, this time by Ermitage Kalone.
Aernouts continued by explaining; “I am grateful to my parents because I can keep and breed horses on their farm. As long as they live there, I can breed horses, but purely as a hobby. I breed one or two foals a year in the hope that our daughter and son-in-law will be able to ride them later. I would also like to thank my wife Greet for her support.
“I started breeding horses 10 years ago. Ochoa vd Leeuwerkheide is my best breeding success to date. He is a son of Cigaret JVH Z out of Aqua, a Corland daughter bred by my father. My stepdaughter Eveline participated with Ochoa in the Belgian Championship for six-year-olds. By the way, both me and Eveline have ridden Aqua.
“I am also proud of Olanthe vd Leeuwerkheide, a daughter of Balou du Rouet, out of a Pommeau du Heup dam. Irish rider Vincent Byrne participated with Olanthe in the 2019 World Championship for five-year-olds in Lanaken. That was the first time we were present at this event, and we didn’t believe what we saw. The courses for five-year-olds are high and wide, coupled with a sharp time. Olanthe then did well and ended 27th in the consolation final, which was nice to see.” Since the end of last year, Olanthe has been started on the one- and two-star circuit, in partnership with the Swedish Anna Hästbacka... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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