BELGIUM (Jo de Roo) The Irish contingent had many sporting and breeding reasons to be delighted at the showjumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses: silver and bronze in the five-year-old final, and gold in the six-year-old final. KWPN also collected three medals: gold (five-year-old Garant), silver (six- year-old Fernando V) and bronze (seven-year-old Everest. BWP celebrated with one silver and one bronze, thanks to seven-year-old Jeleena de Muze and six-year-old Kannabis van de Bucxtale.
In the top three of the seven- year-old category, gold medal winner Think Twice III Z represented the WBCYH host, Studbook Zangersheide.
Five-year-olds
Dutch rider Willem Greve and the KWPN-registered Garant claimed victory in the world championship final for five-year-old showjumpers. Garant is the result of combining the stallion Warrant with the dam C’est La Vie (Verdi TN), and bred by the Bosch brothers in the Netherlands. During the press conference following the prize giving, a delighted Greve explained: “My horse jumped fabulous, already during the first two days. He really gave me a good feeling and, okay, you also need a little bit of luck. I had two horses qualified for the final. Garant is such a good horse – he makes life a little bit easier. I purchased the horse only in May of this year. I was lucky that I got a wildcard to come here. My stable rider took him to some shows when I was at bigger shows. I came here to give him a good experience. I never expected to become world champion. He really deserved to be the champion.”
Greve also commented about the event overall: “This is a show that is one in a million. It’s a promotion if you are bringing good horses. You meet people. People all around the world come here and that’s what it makes so special. Years ago they were on the grass, now they’ve changed to sand. It’s just an unbelievable event. I always come here with a lot of pleasure. You know that it’s a little bit of a gamble when you are in the final, because there are so many horses. One year you have more luck than another year. With the stallion approval, the Z foal auction, the championship, the Sires of the World [class], it’s a special event. I am proud to win a medal here with a young horse. Many thanks to team Zangersheide. Although Mr Melchior has passed away, I hope they keep on going with the show like it is. This is the place where ever ybody wants to be.”
Talking about the course, Greve said. “Today it was a technical course, the time was short enough. What can you do? It’s your own decision if you go full speed in the jump-off or not. The course designer did a good job...”
