THE FEI-WBFSH WORLD BREEDING JUMPING CHAMPIONSHIPS – A BRIEF LOOK

The FEI-WBFSH final earlier this year proved to be an encouraging event for South African breeders. Looking at the results, and the bloodlines on offer, it is easy to see that South Africa is breeding more and more top horses, reflecting many of the best bloodlines in the world. Although our young horse classes are smaller, both in terms of the height jumped and the entries received, the standard in South Africa improves with every competitive year.

Five-year-old final

The Five-year-old Championship saw an entirely Irish podium. Top spot was taken by HHS Ocala (Urano de Cartigny x Wandor van de Mispelaere). This champion gelding was piloted by Michael Pender and bred by Bravo Hughes LTD. Although there are no offspring of Urano de Cartigny in South Africa, that we are aware of, there are offspring of Wandor van de Mispelaere, and just as is the case with HHS Ocala, Wandor is found on the dam side. Capital Stud, for instance, owns the young breeding stallion Capital’s Jaures de Hus (Baloubet du Rouet), who has Wandor on the dam side.

Second place was awarded to the stallion Boleybawn Alvaro (Dominator 2000 Z x Crown Z), only half a second behind the champion. Ronan Rothwell and Niamh McEvoy bred the young stallion. In South Africa, we are fortunate to have Dominator 2000 Z offspring through his son, Tanya Chelin’s gelding Don Quichot Z.

Six-year-old final

Katrin Eckerman grabbed the top podium position with the Westphalian gelding Cascajall (Casallco x Comme Il Faut), bred by Alfons Baumann. The six-year-old gelding was also victorious in Thursday’s qualifier. Casallco himself finished fourth in Sires of the World class. In South Africa, we are still waiting to see a Casallco offspring. Still, we are fortunate enough to have many Casall Ask offspring, including breeding stallions Callaho’s Cartier and 334 Casamiro, as well as the stallion Capital Clarense, who was sold on auction. These horses bring the formidable blood of Casall into South African breeding and showjumping.

The lovely bay ISH mare, Laurina (Stakkato Gold x Cruising), took the second place. The Zangershiede gelding Maddox vh Haringvliet Z (Monte Bellini x Ogano Sitte) took the final spot on the six-year-old podium.

Seven-year-old final

The podium for the seven-year-old saw domination by the mares . The top mare was the Italian-bred Kumina Della Caccia (Kannan x Toulon). We are very fortunate to have several Kannan offspring in South Africa. Just as is the case with Kannan, there are also a few Toulon offspring here, including the full brothers Capital Night Star and Capital Magic Boy.

The second spot was again taken by an offspring of Casallco; this time the mare Casanina PS (Casallco x Chacco-Blue). You can find Chacco-Blue in many of the showjumping bloodlines here.

The final mare to take her place on the podium was the KWPN mare Labantrix (Eldorado van de Zeshoek x Abantos). Ashlee Healy’s World Cup Winning Eldo is an example of similar breeding found here in SA.

Take home message

A few years ago, it would have been difficult to find many examples of this winning breeding to show off in an article like this. With our studs and individual competitors in South Africa dedicated to improving our breeding stock, we are sure to see even more similarities in the bloodlines on offer next year.