By Adriana van Tilburg
Photography: FEI-Libby Law
Le Lion d’Angers is the place to be every October to celebrate the talents of the six- and seven-year-old eventing horses competing here for the World Breeding Championship for Young Horses titles. Taking place just one week after the announcement of the year-end WBFSH-ROLEX studbook and breeder rankings, it’s interesting to focus on a results comparison between the top studbooks represented at this final WBCYH of 2018.
While KWPN claimed top spot in the WBFSH-ROLEX rankings, they could only manage eighth place in the seven-year-old age-group in Le Lion with Galant DHI (Indoctro - Urona x Hold Up Premier, bred by Jac F. de Jong) under the sadde of Cathal Daniels. We find in Galant’s third generation the Thoroughbred Lucky Boy xx (Compromise xx - Sejane xx x Ksarinor xx). In total, KWPN was represented by six horses in this age group.
Having led the WBFSH-ROLEX year-end rankings since 2012, Irish Sport Horse was bumped into second place in 2018, but had 15 horses competing in the seven-year-old final, of whom the highest placed, finishing second, was Capels Hollow Drift (Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan - Lucky Crest x Lucky Gift xx, bred by Jeanette Glynn) under the saddle of Tom Jackson. His half-sister, With Love (Beau Royale xx), is currently competing at three-star CCI level under the saddle of Francesca Reid-Warrilow. The second best Irish Sport Horse (7th) was Cooley Quicksilver (Womanizer - Kylemore Chrystal x Creggan Diamond, bred by Alan O’Brien), ridden by Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp (USA). Coincidentally, the gelding’s sire, Womanizer, is KWPN-bred from the jumping lines of Heartbreaker and Burggraaf.
Selle Français, the third studbook in the year-end eventing rankings, had seven horses in the seven-year-old final. Best placed in third was the grey stallion Babylon de Gamma (Mylord Carthago - Sunshine des Ka x Happy Vergoignan, bred by the De Wykerslooth de Rooyesteyn family from Champsac, France) under the saddle of Astier Nicolas. Other than SF stallion Oberon du Moulin in his third generation, Babylon’s damline is pure Anglo Arab.
Asha P claims seven-year-old title
The winning seven-year-old, however, was the DSP-bred mare Asha P (Askari - Hera x Heraldik xx, bred by Gbr. Pietscher) under the saddle of Ingrid Klimke. Her sire, Askari (Acord II - Elypse I x Lavall I, Stamm 6582, bred by Ute Lill Bonnhoff) has made quite the name for himself this year, as he also sired DSP Alice, who won the individual showjumping world title with Simone Blum (GER), in Tryon last month. Asha P’s full brother, Araldik, is an approved stallion and stands at Gestüt Bonhomme in Germany. It’s a third young-horse title for Ingrid Klimke in Le Lion d’Angers, and she reflected on her success by saying, “This championship is very special, because the horses learn a lot. Especially the cross country is very valuable because it is customized to the age of the horses. So afterwards I have a very good idea about the quality of my horses. Asha P has very strong nerves, she is very sweet, has a lot of courage and quality. For me it is very important that the horses with whom I compete have Thoroughbred blood and I also like good jumping blood. This is absolutely the case with Asha P.”..CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO BREEDING NEWS
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