World Young Horse Championships 2023 Lanaken: Finals’ results

An all Irish podium for the 5 years old final at the World Young Horse Championships 2023

Lanaken, September 24, 2023 – HHS Ocala, under the ride of Michael Pender, is the new 5-year-old World Champion. The Lanaken 2023 event is coming to an end, and the final for 5-year-olds opened this “Super Sunday” of competitions.

Course designer Bernard Mathy and his team devised a 13-obstacle course at 1.30 meters for this first final of the day. Out of the 39 horse-rider pairs that qualified for this category, an impressive 11 managed to complete the initial round without errors, securing a spot in the Jump-off .

In recent years, Irish riders have won numerous medals at the FEI/WBFSH World Championships for Young Horses, and this year was no exception. Leading the rankings was Michael Pender riding the Irish-bred gelding HHS Ocala, by Urano de Cartigny x Wandor van de Mispelaere, bred by Bravo Hughes LTD. The pair finished in 37.22 seconds, and Pender claimed his first world title after previously winning silver twice and bronze three times.

But the other podium spots were also claimed under the Irish flag. The silver went to rider Niamh McEvoy on the stallion Boleybawn Alvaro, by Dominator 2000 Z x Crown Z, bred by Ronan Rothwell and from the same dam as GP Boleybawn Aasha (by Dignified van ‘t Zorgvliet). McEvoy and Boleybawn Alvaro completed the round half a second slower than Pender, securing the world title for him with a time of 37.72 seconds.

After winning the 5-year-old horse final last year, Gerard O’Neill clinched the bronze this year. He rode the Irish gelding Ballyshan B F Super Hero, by Celtic Hero B Z x Lux Z, bred by Gary Doherty. Unfortunately, the pair lost some ground between obstacles 2 and 3, finishing in 39.21 seconds, securing O’Neill a place on the podium for the second consecutive year.

World Championships in Lanaken 2023, the emotions of the final day

Exactly four years after winning the 6-year-old World Championships with the mare Chao Lee, the renowned German rider Katrin Eckermann has added another title to her list of successes in the grand final for 6-year-old young horses in Lanaken. Eckermann completed the barrage round with the Westphalian gelding Cascajall in the fastest time in the category.

A total of 40 horse-rider pairs had qualified for today’s final, and out of them, 10 secured a spot in the jump-off by completing the initial round without faults. The fastest was the German rider Katrin Eckermann on the son of Casallco and Comme Il Faut, bred in Germany by Alfons Baumann and from the same damline as the stallion Polydox. The pair entered the arena as the second last rider of starting order and outperformed the competition with a time of 34.06 seconds.

After Ireland’s success in the 5-year-old final (read the results article here), it was yet again an irish rider who claimed the second spot on the podium: Leah Stack, riding her Irish mare Laurina (Stakkato Gold x Rincarina), bred by Noel Cawley. Stack and Laurina initially took the lead with a clear round in 35.75 seconds. However, after Eckermann’s performance, they had to settle for silver.

The bronze medal for the 6-year-olds went to the Dutch rider Jelmer Hoekstra and the Zangersheide gelding Maddox vh Haringvliet Z, son of Monte Bellini and Ogano Sitte, bred by Hoekstra’s family. Hoekstra and Maddox vh Haringvliet Z managed to complete the final without errors in 35.79 seconds.

Completing the top five were the German rider Alexander Uekermann, with the gelding KWP IB Easy (Emerald van ‘t Ruytershof x Dallas – Breeding: E. Kuijer), and the Irish rider Niamh McEvoy with the Irish mare BP Tiny Dancer (Plot Blue x Concorde – Breeding: GBBS Int LTD).

The best Italian in the field, in fifteenth place, was Roberto Previtali riding Diatosia PS, a bay mare by Diaron x Chacco-Blue owned by Gaudiano Sport Horses SRL and bred by Gestüt Lewitz. The pair finished the initial round with a score of 4 faults that excluded the pair from the 10 rider jump-off . Nevertheless, today provided another demonstration of the rider’s extraordinary determination and skill, especially considering the high number of participants on the first day, which exceeded 200 pairs.

The FEI/WBFSH World Young Horse Championships 2023 concluded on Sunday with an exciting final for 7-year-old show jumping prospects.

The Jump-off of this final was of the highest level and saw 11 horse/rider combination battle for the win, and in the end, Ireland once again claimed the title. Harry Allen, riding the Italian mare Kumina Della Caccia, secured the 2023 world title for 7-year-olds.

Similar to the 6-year-old final, there were 40 horse-rider pairs in the starting order for the 7-year-old final, and as in the 5-year-old final, 11 of them advanced to the Jump Off .

One of these 11 pairs was the young Irish rider Harry Allen, riding the Italian mare Kumina Della Caccia, daughter of Kannan x Toulon, bred by Soc. Agr. La Caccia-Onlus and coming from the same mother line as the stallion Kashmir van Schuttershof. As the sixth pair in the competition, Allen and Kumina completed the course in an impressive time of 35.30 seconds, earning Harry the gold medal, exactly 10 years after his older brother Bertram Allen became the 6-year-old world champion.

Harry Allen: “Kumina Della Caccia is a fantastic horse, and I even think she’s the best 7-year-old horse I’ve ever ridden! Wherever we go, she jumps exceptionally, and actually, a course with 4 penalties is a bad result for her (laughs). We also had a strong season with a victory in the final in Bratislava, and she tackled the competitions in Aquisgrana with 2 fantastic rounds.

We sold her last year at our Aloga auction, but we agreed that I could continue to ride her until she’s 8 years old.”
The silver medal went to German rider Philip Rüping with the Oldenburg mare Casanina PS, daughter of Casallco x Chacco Blue, bred by Paul Schockemöhle. Rüping and Casanina PS had just taken the lead with a clear round in 35.90 seconds, but in the end, they had to settle for second place.

As in the 6-year-old horse final, the bronze went to the Netherlands, this time thanks to the skillful rider Renee de Weert on the KWPN mare Labantrix, daughter of Eldorado van de Zeshoek x Abantos, bred by Stal van den Broek. De Weert and Labantrix were third in the starting order of the barrage and managed to finish in 38.55 seconds, securing the third step on the podium.

It wasn’t a great result for the only Italian rider qualified for today’s 7-year-old finals. Emilio Bicocchi and Excaliburg, a gray stallion by Kannan x Euro-Star, finished with a total of 12 penalties, ending this Sunday in 33rd place in the final rankings.

Photo Sportfot(v)/Zangersheide – Harry Allen

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