BELGIUM (by Jo de Roo) Many breeders marked Saturday, December 27, 2014 in their diaries, spotlighting
the occasion when several breeding highlights were featured in Mechelen’s Nekkerhal, includig the free jumping class for two-year-old horses, a showjumping competition for six-year-old stallions, another for seven-year-old stallions, plus the world-renowned Zangersheide Open Stallion Competition. All in all, a bloodline feast that saw many different studbooks represented.
In total, 16 combinations started in the showjumping competition for six-year-old stallions. Four of them got qualified for the jump-off.
Gentleman, best six-yearold
stallion
First to start in the jump-off was Olivier Philippaerts. With Gentleman under his saddle, a confident Philippaerts rode extremely fast without making any errors, realizing a clear round in 36.26 seconds. The second combination saw Dimitri Taeijmans paired with Don’s Diamant (Diamant de Semilly - Whitley x Phin Phin), but one error in 38.89 seconds was a third-place performance overall. Nick Vrins was the third rider to start in the jump-off riding the BWP-approved Cumthago C, a son of the 2006 world champion Cumano, out of My Girl III (La Zarras). Cumthago C’s grandmother Diamond Lady is the result of combining Holstein progenitor Lord with the famous dam of stallions Perra, while we twice find Landgraf I on both sides of his pedigree. Cumthago C jumped with a lot of technique and scope, remaining faultless in 40.41 seconds. It remained to be seen whether victory would go to Fee Goldbeck and KWPN stallion Nuku’ Alofa (Clinton - Iregina x Nimerdor), the final competitors in the jump-off? However, an eight-fault round in 43.48 seconds left them in fourth place, sealing victory for Gentleman with Olivier Philippaerts (BEL). Oldenburg-born Gentleman is a son of Guidam (Quidam de Revel), out of Cambridge daughter, Ocay. A Holsteiner bottom line combined with pure SF on top, going back respectively to Caletto I and Jalisco B...
