By Jo de Roo
Photography: Jo de Roo
On October 8/9, the ‘Grand concours d’élevage de chevaux de sport’ took place in Ghlin, Belgium. Organized by AHECS (Association Hennuyère des Eleveurs de Chevaux de Sport), the driving forces are well-known breeders Daniël and Nicolas Boudrenghien.
Year after year, Daniël, Nicolas and their team succeed in making this championship a top event, and this year attracted a great number of participants: over 100 two-year-olds and 87 three-year-olds in the free jumping along. Alongside these two classes we saw a foal championship with 62 participants.
Certainly, the large audience enjoyed great quality and expert commentary from Daniël Boudrenghien about the pedigree, breeders, and owners. The foals and horses were judged by an international jury, with individual members distanced from each other in the arena, whose points were immediately displayed to the audience following the performance of each participant. The points were processed in real time and displayed on a large screen, as well as the intermediate standings.
Best foal – Quantara Biolley
Of the 62 participating foals, 15 were selected for the final in which Quantara Biolley was the clear winner with 90.83%. California Du Sartiau Z (Chacco White, breeder: Stephanie Daubresse) and Quelle Bonne Heure Rivereuille-V (El Pintador du Dieu D’Arras Z, breeder: Rivereuille-V) completed the podium with 85% and 84.17 %, respectively.
Quantara Biolley was bred by Brigitte de Biolley, who discovered her passion at a very young age thanks to her grand-parents who owned horses. It soon became apparent that she was especially talented as a dressage rider: “I witnessed the rise of dressage in Belgium at end of the sixties. At the time, this discipline was still in its infancy and competitions saw few participants. I remember, for example, that in some Prix St-Georges classes only one or two combinations took part, with three or four participants at the low levels.
“In 1971, at the age of 18, I participated in an international Prix St-Georges for seniors for the first time, when young-rider classes still didn’t exist. I made my international debut during the CDIO Rot-terdam riding the horse Potemkine, and with this very successful dressage horse I be-came vice champion of Belgium seven times, mostly behind the winner Anne d’Ieteren.”
Brigitte de Biolley can look back on a rich and long career (1971-1992) in international dressage sport with participations in several European Championships, World Championships, the preselection for the Olympic Games in Barcelona (1992) and highly regarded dressage classes, including Aachen, Berlin, Fontainebleau, Dortmund, Amsterdam, ’s-Hertogenbosch and Goodwood. Her honours list also includes two national titles. She was not only successful with Potemkine, but also with dressage performers such as Attaturk, Petit Prince, Lovely Surprise, and the BWP registered Ferno and David van de Wateringhoeve. Biolley now also has a great worldwide reputation as a breeder since she started her operation in 1998... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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