Three seven-year-old KWPN-horses have qualified themselves today for the World Breeding Dressage Championships final. A respectable achievement, since a good number of thirty-seven horses entered this class. President’s First Apple and Patrick van der Meer have the best cards with their second position behind the formidable leader of the rankings, Fiontini.

 

Patrick van der Meer and his Vivaldi-offspring were one of the first pairs to start. He presented his President’s First Apple in an appealing manner. The judges rewarded his performance with a 9 for his uphill canter and perspective. Also the walk, that formed a bottleneck for many combinations, was awarded an 8. The chestnut stallion is bred by N. van Maaswaal in t Goy. The apple does not fall far from the tree, dam Oogappel (s.TCN Partout) was active on Grand Prix level with Aat van Essen. President’s First Apple has qualified himself for the finals with a great score of 81.286%.

 

Turbulent weather

For a long time, Kirsten Brouwer and the KWPN-approved Ferdeaux were directly placed behind Patrick. The son of Bordeaux (out of Part Two ster pref by Ferro) is bred by G. van Esterik in Ochten. Eventually, the same rider and her ride with Soliman de Hus, made Ferdeaux drop one place in the rankings. The jury gave the stallion an 8.7 for his expressive trot. For submission and perspective, he received an 8.5. With a total score of 78.805% this duo clearly set a good result. Despite the turbulent weather the dark bay eye catcher kept focused on his rider. And stormy it was, because during the test of For Gribaldi and Dinja van Liere almost all the small white ring fencing  were knocked down. Yet, the approved KWPN-stallion was undisrupted. After they finished, the crowd gave him and his rider a big round of well-deserved applause. Unfortunately, the jury did not grant them additional points for submission. The duo’s canter received the highest grade, a 7.8. For Gribaldo (Gribaldi out of Kladaula keur pref by Michelangelo) is bred by A. Barneveld from Bilthoven and Joop van Uytert from Heerewaarden. This combination still has the chance to qualify for the final tomorrow in the small final.

 

Besides President’s First Apple and Ferdeaux, also Fleau de Baian and Adelinde Cornelissen have placed themselves directly for the final through a seventh position. The full brother of the well-known Grand Prix-horse Parzival (Jazz out of Fidora ster pref prest by Ulft, bred by Family Beijer from Puiflijk) showed harmonious test. The highest score, 8.7 was awarded to the canter of the nicely modelled chestnut stallion. The total score was 77.852.

 

Form of the day

The form of the day makes or breaks a competition, that makes the small finals always interesting. Horses that were not optimal in the first qualification round for whatever reason, can retaliate in the small final. The best three horses earn a starting ticket in the final of the seven-year-olds on Saturday afternoon. Farzana and Mara de Vries was just one position away from a place in the final and thus has a good starting position for that small final. Farzana is a daughter of Ampère out of Ashanti G (s.Florencio). She is bred by M.G.M. Gerner in Marienheem. Directly behind her was Favian WH (Zizi Top x Roman Nature). Brecht d’Hoore presented the bay gelding on behalf of Belgium. The bay is bred by Arjan Alberts and Olga Boucher. Barroso made quite an impression in his first performance with the Belgium rider Larissa Pauluis. The bay stallion is one to watch and will be auctioned on Saturday night in the Excellent Dressage Sales. A.W.G. van Kraaij from Dreumel bred Barosso out of his Saros xx-daughter out of keur prestatie mare Kendy. Also up for sportive revenge is Lynne Maas and Fantastique. The light-footed daughter by Vivaldi is born out of Bonbon by Florencio and bred by Patty van Zwang from Dordrecht. Claudio Castilla Ruiz representing Spain is also up for a retake with the KWPN-bred Forte MG. The darkbay stallion by Rousseau is bred by Maatschap Stal de Fuik from Sint-Oedenrode. Forte MG comes out of the preferente Pulianthe, a daughter by Pion. Also Fendi T may stir up a surprise in the small final. He was presented by Charlotte Fry for Great-Britain. W.H.J. Timmers from Volkel and C.G.C.M. Awater from Haarsteeg are registered as the breeders of this Negro-son (out of Sursela ster pref by Lester). The Russian rider Evgeny Sharangovich and the KWPN-horse Florence will naturally also make an attempt to obtain that desired place in the final. Florence is sired by Apache (out of Wysina ster pref sport-dres by Farrington) and bred by Th. Willig from Abcoude.