Promising winners and a lot of potency in Stal Hendrix competition

26 May 2023

The second leg of the Stal Hendrix competition for four-, five- and six-year-old showjumping horses today in Sevenum brought forward a series of striking horses. A lot of potency was seen in all three age categories and winners were the four-year-old Candy’s Coco (s.Cornet Obolensky) under Johan Bergs, the Edinburgh mare N’Abalia SMH -who won for the second time in a row- under Kristian Houwen and Mighty Ferry (s.Zerlin) with Johan Bergs.

Johan Bergs thus took victories with two of his future talents on the grass field at D’n Umswing in Sevenum, next to the Peelbergen Equestrian Centre. With twice an 8.1, the German judges gave the highest marks of the day to his Candy’s Coco (Cornet Obolensky x Elvis ter Putte, breeder Freddi Davide) owned by Stal Brouwershof. “This is a very rideable, well-presented horse. She has good balance in canter and shows enough scope. She has good leg technique on the jump and it certainly is a horse for the future”, explained jury member Alexander Thoenes. Two horses followed in second place, scoring only one tenth lower than the winner: the Jacadello mare Olivia HX (ds.Andiamo, breeder Stal Hendrix) under Ivo Steeghs and the Ogano Sitte son Organo (ds.Whitaker, breeder R. van de Scheur) under Carina Janssen. “Olivia HX was the best jumping horse of the day for us, that’s why we gave her an 8.2 for jumping. In terms of rideability, she is just a little bit greener than the winner, but the potential is certainly there. She is careful, shows scope and jumps with quick reflexes. A mare with a lot of quality on the jump! Organo also showed a lot of talent as a showjumping horse. He has a lot of balance, has good rideability and jumps every fence in the same way.”

Two victories
In the six-year-olds class, with fences up to a maximum of 1.30m level, Johan Bergs was also able to return home with the first place. With the Zerlin offspring Mighty Ferry A (ds.Balou du Rouet, bred by owner Jos Althuyzen), who is a half-sister of the KWPN approved stallion Ludovicus (s.Edinburgh), Johan was the only one to finish under 35 seconds in the second phase. At a distance of more than a second, Yves Willems and Toulusha Key SR (Toulon x Elvis ter Putte), bred by the Sleutels family, were runner-up in this class. After a successful season in 2022, this mare took part in the final of the World Championships in Lanaken under Yves’ father Marcel. Rob Heijligers followed with the Gladstone HDH son Mick Jagger (ds.Numero Uno) in third place in the six-year-olds class in Sevenum. Not only Johan Bergs but also Kristian Houwen took a second victory in this competition. He claimed his second win in a row with the mare N’Abalia SMH (Edinburgh x Zirocco Blue VDL), bred by the late Minne Hovenga, who-just like the winner of the four-year-olds- is owned by Marco Zeekaf of Stal Brouwershof. Just like in Koningsbosch, Kristian was too fast for the competition in this class. The closest they could get to their fast ride was Senna Stroek with the Comilfo Plus offspring Comcorde (ds.Concorde, breeder P. Hofman). To complete the success of the day, Johan Bergs finished third in this class with the Untouchable son Surprise-K van Kattenheye (ds.Marius Claudius, breeders Tony and Mieke Raman).

Competition
Next Wednesday, the competition will continue at the new location of JPM International in Kessel, followed by the other legs of the Stal Hendrix competition on the 8th of June 8 in Meerlo and the 21st of June in Reuver. The final will take place on Friday the 21st of July and will be open to the best 30 combinations per age, calculated over four out of five competitions.

Picture N’Abalia SMH – Wil Smeets