FEI World Breeding Jumping Championships for Young Horses, Lanaken (BEL), 27-30 September

Two utterly different rankings today after the second qualifying round for the 6 year olds at the FEI World Breeding Jumping Championships in Lanaken, Belgium. The seven highest in rank today will not compete in the final on Sunday. Yesterday they had one rail down, or maybe even silly time fault in the first qualifier. They were brilliant today, but can only jump the consolation class tomorrow.

I Belong To You from Nuri Dijks, Holland, was the fastest horse in today’s table A (faults and time, no jump off). It took him only 64.91 seconds to clear the technical course with some turns to fences tempting the horses to make mistakes. Speed master Gert Jan Bruggink and his extremely careful AES bred Andrea (Marome x Voltaire) needed 67.22 seconds to clear the course, and they didn’t beat around the bush either! Philippe Rozier took third place riding the Oldenburg bred Lauterbach (Landor S x Contender).

A lot of riders, maybe frustrated with yesterday’s small mistake, really tried their utmost. Sensational rides for time were followed by strategic rounds with just the aim to stay clear. Double clear rounds in both qualifiers gave access to the final on Sunday. 49 horses managed to stay clear for the second time and will show their qualities once more on Sunday in the Ratina Arena.

Again Dutch breeding was very successful. Twelve out of 49 qualified 6 year old horses are KWPN-bred. Holstein takes second place (six horses), Selle Français, BWP and Zangersheide each have five horses in the final, Hannover is represented by four horses.