By Sally Reid
Photography: Cornege Photography

Glistening Waters is a show that signals the end of the season for jumpers, and the finals of the ESNZ’s very popular age-group series. It’s held in the Wairarapa region, near the south end of the North Island, within fairly easy access of the South Island.

In fact, it was a ‘sassy’ little South-Island-bred and -owned mare who topped the five-year-olds, and a South-Island-owned gelding from Queenstown who took the seven-year-old title.

Seven-year-old title

Well ahead of all opposition in this group was Kiwi Strike (Kiwi Coronation - Kiwi Maze x Corlando), a lovely gelding bred by Graeme Hart in Hawke’s Bay, and owned/ridden by Lucy Olphert of Queenstown. Kiwi Strike has some very nice bloodlines, mainly Holstein. His sire is by the imported Corofino II (Corrado I x Fernando I), Holst Stamm 318D2. This wonderful stallion who died recently was one of the country’s most successful jumping sires ever. Kiwi Strike’s dam, Kiwi Maze (Corlando x Irish Guard ISH) is by an Australian-bred Holsteiner who stood at Golden Grove Stud in New Zealand, and is himself a son of a German-bred Oldenburg, Contango II (Contango x Alme x Gotthard) who stood in Australia.
Kiwi Strike also won the South Island seven-year-old championship in February. He’s not a big boy, but, says Olphert, what he lacks in stature he makes up for in courage and ability. “He’s a special little horse. I just got on him and liked him straight away; he had a very classical technique and showed me a lot of heart.” She has owned him for around a year now, and has brought him on slowly. Their winning series score was 94, almost 20 points ahead of their rivals.
Second place went to Double J Hurricane (Euro Sport Heartbreaker - Double J Breeze x Voltaire II) winner of last year’s six-year-old series, and also the winner of a number of his seven-year-old classes. This gelding was bred by Wendy and Robyn Jacobs, and is ridden by Wendy’s daughter Samantha Carrington. His sire, E.S. Heartbreaker (Heart-breaker - Nufrieda x Hamlet), was imported from Europe and stood here for a relatively short time; he is now in Australia. He was bred by Jean N.V. Custers of Bree in Belgium, and originally named L Rio C. Heartbreaker is from Merrielijn 77, Fokfamilie 335, and has some outstanding names in his pedigree, with Nimmerdor on both sides.
JJ Hurricane’s damsire, Voltaire II (Voltaire - Daydyne x Nimmerdor), was another of the country’s most successful stallions and his progeny continue to excel in all disciplines. He stood originally at Fred Cornege’s Seattle Lodge, then at Sue Fowler’s Astek Stud until his death. It’s worth noting that Voltaire II not only had Nimmerdor blood, but was from the same cross (Voltaire x Nimmerdor) as the mighty Kannan. JJ Hurricane’s final score was 75... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO BREEDING NEWS
SUBSCRIBERS CAN READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY LOGGING IN AND RETURNING TO THIS PAGE