Talented new stallions in the spotlight at Jumping Mechelen

6-year-old stallions

Among the 6-year-old stallions we saw some new names, although it were mainly the known talents that confirmed their qualities. Nixon van ‘t Meulenhof, a son of Denzel van ‘t Meulenhof and a half-brother to Emerald and Diamanthina van ‘t Ruytershof, jumped fantastic again under the saddle of Harrie Smolders. Together they proved that a jump-off can be fast and elegant at the same time! Second place went to Nadal Hero & DB and James Peeters. This Nadal Hero is also a genetic gem, because this son of Kannan is a half-brother to stars such as Taloubet Z and Big Star JR K Z. Third place was for the winner of the PAVO Stallion Competition earlier this year, namely Nector vd Bisschop and Pieter Kenis. This son of Echo van ‘t Spieveld comes out of the same dam line as the 1m45 jumpers Wilbert M and Tuberthus.

7 year old stallions

Also the class for 7-year-old stallions contained no big surprises, because here Mr. Uno-K van ‘t Kattenheye claimed victory. This son of Numero Uno already has an impressive list of honors, because he won, for example, already the Belgian Cycle for 6-year-old horses. For Jan Vermeiren it is already his third victory in a row, after winning last year with Mr. Idol S, who this time became 4th under the saddle of Olivier Philippaerts.

“Last summer, Mr. Idol S and Mr. Uno-K were half sold to the Philippaerts family, but I chose to keep Mr. Uno-K with me. Everyone who knows me knows that I am very competitive, so I have been calling Olivier every day all week to tell him that he really has to go fast in the jump-off (laughs). And he did, because in the end he was faster than me (ed. Olivier saw a fence come down)! I thought it was no disadvantage that I had to go in first, because in this way, I could ride a tight jump-off and put great pressure. We succeeded! I also knew that it was possible to do it faster, but I told myself that if I started first, I could stay first. They are both very nice horses, and they have already proven that with their results. For the time being, I hope to be able to keep Mr Uno-K in our stable,” Jan continues. “We use him a lot in breeding ourselves. We have a lot of large mares with a lot of body and there are not many finer stallions with a lot of blood that also jump with such a fantastic technique without having to compromise on quality. His first crop of offspring already looks promising. Mr Idol S has been with Philippaerts since this fall and is doing great there too. ”

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A newcomer in the stallion classes was A Golden Boy Hero Z, a son of Aganix du Seigneur Z owned by Jos Lansink. Together with Pieter Clemens, the bay stallion jumped a tight round where he certainly managed to convince breeders. He is also a half-brother to Dream Alive Hero who showed at 1m45 level with Patricia Guery. Harrie Smolders and Escape Z were the fastest in the jump-off, but saw a fence coming down and thus finished third. This son of Emerald has made a lot of progress compared to last year: he clearly showed more scope and maturity and thereby once again confirmed the value of Emerald in breeding.

Sires of the World

In the Sires of the World the big spectacle, as we are used to in Lanaken, did not happen. The famous names managed to convince again, such as Diesel GP Du Bois Madame (2nd), Seacoast Valdelamadre Clooney (3rd) and H&M Extra (4th). A big surprise was certainly the victory of Christian Ahlmann with Zampano Z (Zandor Z). Where last year Ahlmann counted on Clintrexo Z for the victory of the Sires of the World, this time it was Zampano Z that ensured a blazing fast jump-off.

Furthermore, Di Cantero van ter Hulst Z (5th) was also exceptionally striking. The 8-year-old son of Diamant de Semilly not only jumped with a spectacular hind technique, also his carefulness and speed were certainly remarkable for his age! The same can be said of Le Blue Diamond van ‘t Ruytershof, who made his first major performance with Olivier Philippaerts, and Luigi d’Eclipse, who managed to surprise with the ease he jumped the course.