“We have enjoyed our work throughout the day”, responds chairman of the stallion selection committee Cor Loeffen at the end of the first day of the KWPN Stallion Show. “This stems from both the quality of the stallions and the great manner of presenting them.”

The day started with the second-round viewing, where 66 jumper stallions were presented. 36 of them received the green light for the third-round viewing, that took place tonight. “In the third round we took both the performance and findings of the first and second-round viewing into account, as well as the pedigree information. We were able to appoint 32 interesting stallions for the performance test. A positive remark of the free jumping was the natural manner in which the horses were presented, we have seen very few stallions that made a ‘prepared’ impression. This may not always give a spectacular image, however it gives us the best outlook on the natural ability of a horse. And that’s what’s important in breeding.

Four to championship round

Out of the 32 selected stallions, four have been invited to the championships round. The following stallions may come back for this grand finale: Kartouche (Baltic VDL out Ultravola ster pref prest PROK by Baloubet du Rouet, bred by H.L.J. Kessels from Meerlo) owned by VDL Stud and Willy Bourgondiën, Kannan Jr (Cornet Obolensky out of Van Meta ster sport-spr PROK by Quick Star, bred/registered to Wobbe and Marietje Kramer) of co-owner Sjaak van der Lei, Kobalt (Modesto out of Abersinaa ster by Calido I, bred by Sietse van der Meer) of Iekje van der Meer and the Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve-son Key West (out of Zanory T prest by Phin Phin) of breeder Roelof Bril and Wiet ten Brinke. Through four appointed sons, Cornet Obolensky did remarkably well, while the stallions El Salvador, Carrera VDL, Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve, Cicero Z and Grand Slam saw two of their offspring getting selected. “We have been able to appoint offspring of young and established sires, often combined with renown dam lines. We are pleased with today’s crop, we barely had to make any concessions. Furthermore, there was a clear group of stallions that performed very well in both the first and second round viewing, giving us good hope for the performance test,” says Cor Loeffen.

Three KSS stallions

Of all of the presented stallions that will go under the hammer in the KWPN Select Sale tomorrow, three have been invited to the performance test. These are: Kaiden GPH *Chaman out of Charistia Z by Crawford, bred by Sannah Angenent) of Rinus Blom, Kentucky GP (Air Jordan Z out of C’Est la Vie ster by Corland) of breeder Gerrit-Jan van de Pol and King Salvador (El Salvador out of Vivona elite pref by Numero Uno) of breeder J.Sturkenboom and co-owners Lauw van Vliet and Hans van der Louw. Browse through the entire collection of KWPN Select Sale stallion here.

The videos of the stallions can be watched on KWPN.TV. Check today’s results here.

Image Dirk Caremans