Christian Ahlmann and Ansingh De Lis Z triumph in the 6-year-old stallions

The week after Christmas, on Belgian soil it’s looking forward to Jumping Mechelen, one of the absolute highlights of the Belgian equestrian sports! The second day is traditionally entirely devoted to breeding with the free jumping final for the 2 and 3 year old horses, the stallion classes for the 6 and 7 year olds and as a highlight the Prize Léon Melchior, the famous Zangersheide Sires Of The World.

The class for the 6-year-old stallions was the first important class at the Christmas Arena last Wednesday afternoon and after a particularly exciting jump-off, this Zangerheide Prize had a dream winner. A few hours after we announced our stallion catalogue for 2024, it was Christian Ahlmann who convincingly jumped to the victory with the stallion Ansingh De Lis Z, a son of Aganix du Seigneur Z and Kannan who was bred in the Netherlands by W.M. Lisman. Ahlmann and Ansingh De Lis Z were one of the 11 combinations that remained clear in the basic round and so secured a ticket for the jump-off. As the 8th combination at the start, they rushed to the finish in 33.53 seconds and with this performance they had more than a full second ahead of the competition.

Christian Ahlmann and Ansingh De Lis Z moved the Belgian rider Robin van Thillo to 2nd place in the rankings with this performance. Van Thillo had previously taken the lead with the stallion Leonardo Van De Kapel (Mithras De Regor x Nabab de Rêve) from breeder Joris van den Bergh after a clear round in 34.64 seconds, but ultimately had to settle for 2nd place in the rankings.

3rd place went to the Belgian rider Jan Vermeiren with the stallion Rhythm-K Van 't Kattenheye, a son of Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve and Cornet Obolensky who was bred by Tony Raman and Annemarie Strobbe and who was also approved for Studbook Zangerheide. Vermeiren started his jump-off very well, but had to wait a bit in the last line, which eventually stopped the chrono in 34.66 seconds.

Christian Ahlmann also managed to qualify for the jump-off with the stallion Dacantos Boy Z, a son of Dacantos and Balous Bellini and new in our stallion catalogue for 2024. Ahlmann and Dacantos Boys also managed to keep all the poles in the cups in the jump-off and were good for 4th place in the rankings.

Last but not least, Angelique Rüsen also managed to impress during this Zangersheide Prize with the grey stallion Allroad 2000 Z, a son of Aganix du Seigneur Z and Cassini I and also a half-brother of Dominator 2000 Z. Rüsen and Allroad 2000 Z also remained clear in the jump-off and took 5th place in the rankings.