The Dutch influence during the World Cup Finals was striking. In show jumping, top sire Heartbreaker posthumously left his mark, and the Cardento-daughter Iliana was the highest-scoring KWPN horse. The dressage final consisted of 40% Dutch horses and had the keur stallion Glamourdale as a dream winner.

Although no Dutch horse ended up on the podium in the jumping, the influence of the studbook was unmistakable in this World Cup Final. Four KWPN horses placed among the top twelve, and Dutch influences were clearly present in other horses as well.

Iliana
The victory went to the winner of the first round, Frenchman Julien Epaillard with his Jarnac-offspring Donatello d’Auge, who only had a small mistake in the second round on the final day. Their performance brought in €172,500. In a time that, without the four faults, would have been good enough for the win in the second round, Henrik von Eckermann finished fourth with Iliana sport-spr (Cardento out of Destiny by Gentleman), bred by farrier Jan Bocken. This mare has been paired with the Sweden-based rider since early 2022 and had previously caught the eye under Lars Kersten. With Henrik von Eckermann, Iliana advanced to the highest level and already competed at the European Championships in Milan in 2023. That the ultra-careful mare suits the St. Jakobshalle in Basel was proven in January when she claimed the Longines Grand Prix there. In her first World Cup Final, the Cardento daughter delivered a top-level performance and added €60,000 to her winnings.

Great cooperation
“Iliana did fantastic. She cooperated so well and stayed calm in her head. Even in the last lines of the course, she kept her composure, and that’s very important. Because at a multi-day competition, she must not get too hot, as she would carry that tension into the next day. So I’m incredibly happy with Iliana and the progress she has shown. She couldn’t have done better, and the mistakes on the last day were entirely my fault,” praises Von Eckermann his top horse.

Heartbreaker
Heartbreaker’s influence was significant. Two grandchildren of the influential stallion made it to the podium, and three more horses in the top twelve carried the genes of this pride of Team Nijhof. For instance, the runner-up Point Break under Ben Maher is a grandson of Heartbreaker through his sire Action-Breaker. This SWB-registered stallion traces back to a Dutch dam line. The third-placed Visconti du Telman of Kevin Staut is a granddaughter of Heartbreaker through Toulon. Incredible (Clinton out of Unbelievable ster prest PROK by Heartbreaker, breeder Gebroeders Bosch), who finished twelfth, once again demonstrated his jumping quality under Daniel Coyle, and only had a minor time penalty on the final day. This gelding, bred by the KWPN Breeders of the Year 2024, is a maternal grandson of Heartbreaker.

Team Nijhof
Additionally, two offspring of top sire Eldorado van de Zeshoek, another stallion from the stables of Team Nijhof, finished among the top twelve. Willem Greve started the World Cup Final with some unlucky faults but made a strong comeback on the final day with a 0/1 result aboard the KWPN-approved keur stallion Grandorado TN N.O.P. (Eldorado van de Zeshoek out of Charmieque elite IBOP-spr EPTM-spr sport-spr PROK by Carolus II, breeders Marinus Rietberg and Dick Verhoeven). They ended up, together with two other combinations who were just slightly faster in the second round, on 12 penalties, securing seventh place for the Dutch pair. Under Max Kühner, another Eldorado van de Zeshoek-offspring, Elektric Blue P, finished the World Cup Final in a nice tenth place. Eldorado van de Zeshoek himself is out of a dam by Toulon, one of the strongest-producing sons of Heartbreaker. Also among the prize winners was Gamin van ’t Naastveldhof, who placed sixteenth under Edouard Schmitz and is out of a Toulon dam. This means Heartbreaker’s genes were present in five horses among the top twelve (40%).

Dutch stallions
But the influence of Team Nijhof’s stallions does not end there, as Out of the Blue SCF, who placed eighth with Katherine Dinan, is an American-registered offspring of the preferent sire Verdi. The other major stallion station from the Netherlands, VDL Stud, also had influence via their stallions in this World Cup Final. The winners of the second round, Martin Fuchs with Leone Jei (Baltic VDL out of Dara ster IBOP-spr prest PROK by Corland, breeder Gijs van Mersbergen), achieved a top 10 result as well. Unfortunately, they could not maintain their good form on the last day and ended this World Cup Final with 14 penalties and ninth place. In the second round, however, they had the Swiss home crowd on their feet with their victory. Another top sire from VDL Stud, the Olympic stallion Zirocco Blue VDL, had a successful son competing. Under Hans-Dieter Dreher, the Holstein-registered Elysium jumped to thirteenth place.

KWPN bloodlines
Iron Dames My Prins, bred by Ludo Philippaerts, finished fifth with Sophie Hinners and descends from the KWPN-registered Grand Prix stallion Zilverstar T. This Berlin-son, bred by Herman van Triest, competed in the Olympic Games himself and has already produced several offspring at the highest level. Moreover, Iron Dames My Prins comes from a KWPN dam line, going back via two BWP-registered mares in the third generation to the Joost x Abgar xx-mare Atanette.

Dutch influences
Kick On, who placed eleventh with Lillie Keenan, is also by a KWPN-registered stallion. He is a son of the Grand Prix stallion Warrior (s.Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve, breeder Leo de Bruijn), with whom Jamal Rahimov competed in the European Championships in Aachen and the World Equestrian Games in Caen, and who was placed in multiple Grand Prixs. More indirectly, we can also mention United Touch S, who placed sixth with Richard Vogel, as he is a grandson of the KWPN-approved Grand Prix stallion Untouchable via Untouched. Similarly, Untouchable 32 (s.Van Helsing), who placed fifteenth with Ramzy Al Duhami, is a granddaughter of the KWPN-registered stallion Valentino (s.Now or Never M) through her sire.

KWPN well represented in dressage
In the dressage final, KWPN was also well represented. With seven out of the seventeen participating horses, more than 41 percent of the horses in this final were KWPN-bred. The great representative of this Dutch breeding success was, of course, the KWPN-approved keur stallion Glamourdale (Lord Leatherdale out of Thuja pref prest by Negro, breeder Joop Rodenburg), who took the win under Charlotte Fry. It is yet another highlight in the career of this stallion. In Basel, the pair once again proved too strong for the competition. With Total Hope Old ridden by Isabel Freese and Gotilas du Feuillard (Totilas out of Vital Hit S ster PROK by Ferro, breeder Unlimited Stables) ridden by Corentin Pottier, the KWPN-bred and -approved stallion Totilas produced two offspring in third and fourth place. Larissa Pauluis finished eighth with the KWPN horse Flambeau (Ampère out of Lakarla elite pref prest sport-dres by Zeoliet, breeder José van Eijkelenburg from Oisterwijk).

On to Los Angeles 2028
The Zangersheide-registered Sertorius de Rima Z (s.Sandro Hit) is out of the KWPN mare Siolita (s.Voltaire) and performs very harmonious tests with Pauline Basquin. We also saw Dutch horses such as Gino (Bretton Woods out of Lugienna keur by Haarlem, breeder M.F.M. Heynert-Hermans) and Ivanhoe (Desperado out of Pirouette ID elite PROK by Jazz, breeder S.M.F.H. Waterschoot) under Genay Vaughn and Mary Hanna respectively. The latter had a strong track record in the Netherlands from a young age, including in the VSN Trophy and Pavo Cup, and was trained to the highest level by Margreet Prosman before being purchased by her current rider. Incidentally, the 70-year-old Mary Hanna leaves no doubt about her ambitions with this KWPN horse: the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 are her main goal.

Overview page World Cup Finals

Text: Jenneke Smit
Photos: Dirk Caremans