By KWPN
Photography: Dirk Caremans/Hippofoto
It won’t have escaped anyone’s attention that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have started – albeit one year late due to Covid-19. As in previous Olympiads, a large number of the participating horses, with both Dutch and foreign riders, are KWPN registered.
In 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, both the Olympic dressage champion Valegro (Negro out of Maifleur keur by Gershwin, breeder Joop and Maartje Hanse from Burgh- Haamstede) and the Olympic showjumping champion Big Star (Quick Star out of Jolanda prestatie sport (jumping) by Nimmerdor, breeder Cees Klaver from Schoorl), were KWPN horses. Will the Dutch-bred horses be successful at the largest sports event in the world once again this year?
Dressage
The Dutch Dressage Team consists of Edward Gal with the KWPN approved stallion GLOCK’s Total US (Totilas - Sondra x Sir Donnerhall, bred by Gestüt Lewitz from Steinfeld, Germany); Hans Peter Minderhoud with KWPN stallion GLOCK’s Dream Boy N.O.P. (Vivaldi - Resia elite PROK x Ferro, bred by Tim Coomans from Oud-Beijerland); and Marlies van Baalen with Go Legend (Totilas - Litchy elite sport (dressage) preferent prestatie PROK x Ferro, bred by Stal Wittenberg from Scherpenzeel).
British rider Charlotte Dujardin won two individual Olympic gold medals with her top horse Valegro. She rides a KWPN horse again this year: Gio (Apache - Zenzi elite prestatie IBOP D-OC x Tango), bred by H.J. de Jong and Ad Valk. With this elegant chestnut, nicknamed ‘Pumpkin’, she recently won the four-star Grand Prix in Aachen. The British, winners of team silver in Rio, will in fact be competing in Tokyo with an entire KWPN-bred team in addition to Dujardin/Gio; namely Carl Hester with En Vogue (Jazz - Nicarla elite sport (dressage) PROK x Contango, bred by A. van de Goor from Herpen), and Charlotte Fry with KWPN stallion Everdale (Lord Leatherdale - Aliska K elite EPTM (dressage) PROK x Negro, bred by P. Kluytmans from Tilburg).
Team USA’s rider Steffen Peters, from San Diego, CA, will compete with Suppen-kasper (registered name Danny Boy), a 13-year-old KWPN gelding owned by Four Winds Farm and Akiko Yamazaki. Suppenkasper is by Spielberg out of Upanoeska keur prest IBOP dr (Krack C) and bred by F. van de Poel (NL). The traveling reserve for Team USA, Nick Wagman, also from San Diego, will ride Don John, a 2nd viewing PROK 2008 gelding (Johnson pref - Lindalie keur pref x Goodtimes). Don John was bred by P A J. Rops (NL) and is owned by Beverly Gepfer... 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
