By Elisabet Ernblad/SWB
Photography: Private collection

Göran ‘Yogi’ Breisner, for many years the chef d’equipe of the British eventing team and an eventing legend in his own right, has been to numerous competition arenas worldwide, but when visiting the Breeders’ Trophy in Flyinge, it was his first time there. Alongside Fredrik Bergendorff and Anne Persson, he was the appointed judge for the young-horse champion-ship finals in eventing, and also shared his knowledge, presenting several lectures to, among others, judges in other disciplines.

Yogi attended the Breeders’ Trophy for the whole week and saw a string of interesting horses destined for the sport of eventing. “I always look for new horses and saw a real star in Captain Sparrow who won the three-year-old final in jumping. I fell in love, and I quickly found out if the horse was for sale, which unfortunately it wasn’t.”
The following day, Yogi ran in to the SWB inspection committee jump judge, Mikael Nolin, and they exchanged experiences regarding free jumping and young horse training. Mikael mentioned that he himself had a horse in the four-year-old class in jumping. “I got curious and kept an extra eye on the duo and really liked what I saw,” Yogi explained.
The horse in question was Van Gils SG (Balou du Rouet), out of a Thoroughbred dam, Aventurine xx, bred vt Marleen Rosenquist in Billesholm. Yogi determined that the pedigree, the type, and the attitude of the horse fulfilled his expectations on what he is looking for in a future star event horse. “Unfortunately, the price tag was a little over the top, but Mikael quickly connected me with the breeder who told me there was a yearling at home out of the same dam and by the French stallion Godsend de Reverdy, who sounded very interesting”.
Yogi asked for a video of the yearling, liked what he saw, and quickly ventured out to the farm in Billesholm. After seeing Nalle Puh SG in his pasture and some footage of Danish rider Tomas Velin competing with Godsend de Reverdy at London-Olympia, he immediately decided to purchase the yearling. “The pedigree is fantastic,” Yogi exclaimed. “Thinking about the classic event horse, where we talk of the three-quarter bred, this horse is very close to that. The dam was born in England by Pursuit of Love xx that I have seen race very well here. She was exported to France, where she raced as a miler, and in the French blood of the sire we find both Thoroughbred and Anglo blood, which generates perfect conditions to produce an international eventing horse.”..

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