19 March '24
WC 7-year-olds, 25% finalists with Z signature
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Z-Events
@WilSmeets
You can bet on the WCs being representative. It has happened multiple times that a horse from the five-star competition caught people’s eyes for the first time at the WCs in Zangersheide. That is not a coincidence. At the age of six or seven, many youngsters have already found a home in a professional yard, which most conspicuously shows in the grand series of the WCs. Think of last year’s podium with Rolf-Göran Bengtsson (Caillan), Christian Ahlmann (Dourkan Hero Z) and Olivier Philippaerts (Precious DH).
In this year’s final we saw riders like Jérôme Guery, Niels Bruynseels, Gilles Thomas and the Philippaerts family. Even Ludo, who turned sixty in June, jumped the final of the WC with the 7-year-old Nobel van de Vrombautshoeve Z (Nabab de Reve x Corrado I). One mistake on the Henders & Hazel fence kept him out of the jump-off. Eleven other horses managed to stay clean in the first round. In the end the top four once again kept a clean record in the jump-off and victory went to… yes, Ireland, thanks to Harry Allen (Kumina Della Caccia, Kannan x Toulon). He is the new World Champion, exactly ten WCs after his brother Bertram became World Champion in Zangersheide (with Barnike). Philip Rüping (Casanina PS, Casallco x Chacco-Blue) from Paul Schockemöhle’s stables won Silver, Bronze was for Renee de Weert (Labantrix, Eldorado vd Zeshoek x Abantos) who rides for Henk van den Broek.
Gold Harry Allen: ‘Kumina Della Caccia is the best 7-year-old I’ve ever ridden’
Harry Allen (22) was quite relaxed: ‘Kumina Della Caccia came to our Ballywater stables as a yearling and was sold at out Aloga auction last year. Her new owner as well as rider was American rider Adrienne Sternlicht. She rode Kumina for a while, after that she returned to me. We had agreed on that beforehand. The plan is that I’ll continue riding her until she turns eight and then we’ll see what the future holds. I’m not saying this because Kumina Della Caccia is World Champion now, but she is the best 7-year-old I have ever ridden’, Harry Allen says. ‘This year we jumped in Aachen and Chantilly and her worst result was 4 penalties, and that’s rather exceptional. It doesn’t say anything though, about how we’ll do at the WC, but results like the above clearly make me feel more confident when jumping the course. Having kept a clean record in Aachen, we surely should be able to do the same in Lanaken.’
Silver Philip Rüping: ‘Finishing 2nd behind an Irishman feels like winning’
Philip Rüping (Casanina PS) came half a second short for Gold and has no clue where he could have gone faster. ‘For me this jump-off was exactly the way we had plotted it. I had the right rhythm, the distances were correct and we rode the last line in seven canter strides (smiles). So I’m pleased about how things have worked out and happy with Casanina who did more than her best. And you know what? Looking at the denouement of the WC, there’s no shame in ending in 2nd place behind an Irishman. Quite the opposite, it feels like winning (laughs). Rüping cannot say anything about Casanina PS’s future: ‘She’ll get some downtime now. Paul Schockemöhle is going to organise an auction in December. Maybe he’s going to offer her for sale there? I have no idea what the impact of her Reserve World Champion Title might be.’
Bronze Renee de Weert: ‘Lost it in the last line’
Renee de Weert became emotional when she talked about her Bronze medal: ‘This is a dream come true. I have always been crazy about Labantrix and rode her when she was a 4- and 5-year-old. After that Henk’s daughter Monique took her over but since this year I’m holding the reins again. At the DC Young Horses we also finished in 3rd place. That was very good, but this Bronze exceeds my wildest expectations.’ Renee de Weert was understandably euphoric but yet remained critical: ‘I could have bridged that last line in seven canter strides instead of eight. Eight was the initial plan and I stuck to that. One might say that I gave it away in the last line, but even with one stride less it probably wouldn’t have been enough to win the Gold.’
Z horses prominently rise to the surface
The fact that Z horses rise increasingly more prominently to the surface is showcased by the final, for which eleven Z horses, the equivalent of one in four finalists, qualified themselves. Four of these ended in the top 10.
Former World Champion Jason Foley made an unlucky mistake on the first fence with Mister Qerly Z (Mosito vh Hellehof x For Pleasure) and finished in 9th place. Cinnamon Pommex Z (Cornet Obolensky x Kannan) came 7th with Kendra Claricia Brinkop from Stephex Stables, also breeder of Cinnamon, a granddaughter of Usha van ’t Roosakker.
The Morsink line
Calida Z (Cornet Obolensky x Carthago Z) made it to 5th place with Gerben Morsink. Calina Z is the dam of Calida Z and of Zekina Z (Zandor Z), her first offspring. With Gerben Morsink in the saddle Zekina Z became World Champion in the 6-year-olds and a year later won Bronze in the 7-year-olds.
Calina’s daughter Quilina Z (Quinar Z) also brought Chaqui Z (Chacco-Blue), who jumped the final at the WCs in Zangersheide in three consecutive years. Later Chaqui Z seized the Gold at the EC in Gothenburg with Shane Sweetnam. Gerben Morsink then again, won Gold and Silver at the junior EC with Calina Z.
So not at all surprising to see her daughter Calida Z make it into the final as well as the jump-off at the WC. She came 5th, after a mistake on the last fence and finished just behind Scala du Piedroux Z with Virginie Thonon.
Breeder Henk van den Broek: ‘I have trouble sleeping during the WCs’
The breeder of Bronze Labantrix is Henk van den Broek and he used to jump the dam Abantrix (Abantos). ‘At some stage I took over a few broodmares from a client who had died. Abantrix was one of them. That man had also bred Cantos and his son Dacantos. At that time Patrick Lemmen was my stable rider and eight years ago he won Bronze at the WCs with Dacantos. The Gold then went to Christian Ahlmann with Hui Buh (Cornado).’
Labantrix was Abantrix’s last foal, who carried her foal herself. In those days Henk van den Broek used to train Nijhof’s stallions and that way got to know Eldorado van de Zeshoek. ‘Abantrix was very careful but had insufficient capacity. Well, once having been introduced to Eldorado it doesn’t take long to figure out how to add capacity.’ And that worked out pretty well at the WC. It even brought out the emotions in rider Renee de Weert. Understandable, Henk van den Broek can relate to that: ‘Renee has been working for me for four years now and absolutely puts in every effort. She has no experience whatsoever with this. In her career Renee hasn’t even jumped three ranking tests. In recent years Labantrix narrowly missed the boat in the Dutch qualifications for the WCs. This year she succeeded. Not so surprising, in the past years Labantrix lacked strength. She had to gain strength and that was a matter of time. Now she has fully matured and is on top of her game, as Henk van de Broek, who at some point in the past was himself World Champion 6-year-olds, could see. Then we were still jumping on a grass surface, that’s how long ago it is, Henk laughs.
Consequently, he is very adept at assessing the value of WC finalists. ‘Making predictions is terribly difficult. On the Sunday we often see horses here that easily jump 1.50 courses and higher in a few years’ time.’ Selling is not Henk van den Broek’s first thought: ‘Sale or no sale, I won’t eat any less because of it. There was already some interest for Labantrix on the first day. I told them to give me a call next week. How do these things work? On day one they show an interest, if your horse makes a mistake on day two you never hear from them again. Gone is their interest. The person who calls again a week later is genuinely interested’, Henk van den Broek has learned. ‘Qualifying for the WCs is in itself a good parameter. If you subsequently come up with this result you have put your stable and breeding on the map. To me this is the finest event of the year. Well, after Aachen obviously. The difference being that I sleep badly during the WCs. Sure, I do have this hope that things will go well but there’s no way I can control that during the event.’
