Irish youngsters shine at World Breeding championships

An Irish horse was among the winners of the FEI World Breeding Jumping Championships for Young Horses, held at the Zangersheide Stud in Belgium.

Irish Sport Horse gelding Killossery Kaiden won the six-year-old division with Gerard O’Neill.

Killossery Kaiden (Lux Z/Cruising) produced the only clear in the jump-off to take the title.

“I’ve been riding this horse for about 18 months now and he did well in the HSI series for young horses at home in Ireland but I wasn’t so fast so I didn’t really expect to win,” said O’Neill. “It’s my third time to ride here and now I have the gold medal so I’m pretty happy!”

It was certainly a good competition for the Irish, with 16-year-old schoolboy Michael Pender finishing in silver and bronze in the five-year-old section. He was leading with the ISH mare Z Seven Canya Dance (Can Ya Makan/Cavalier Royale), only to overtake his own target time with his second ride Z Seven Caretina (Coltaire Z/Caretino).

He looked to have gold and silver in the bag until the finial rider, The Netherlands’ Willem Greve, pushed him off the top step of the podium with the KWPN stallion Garant (Warrant/Verdi TN).

“These medals are the biggest thing I’ve won until now – I’m still going to school but I definitely want to be a professional rider,” said Pender.

The Zangersheide Studbook’s Think Twice lll Z that claimed the seven-year-old honours with Belgium’s Thierry Goffinet.

Five-Year-Old Final: GOLD – Garant (William Greve) NED 0/0 38.46; SILVER – Z Seven Caretina (Michael Pender) IRL 0/0 38.86; BRONZE – Z Seven Canya Dance (Michael Pender) IRL 0/0 39.04.

Six-Year-Old Final: GOLD – Killossery Kaiden (Gerard O’Neill) IRL 0/0 47.85; SILVER – Fernando V (Julian de Boer) NED 0/4 35.53; BRONZE – Kannabis van de Bucxtale (Thierry Goffinet) BEL 0/4 40.02.

Seven-Year-Old Final: GOLD – Think Twice lll Z (Thierry Goffinet) BEL 0/0 40.06; SILVER – Jeleena de Muze (Lorenzo de Luca) ITA 0/0 40.73; BRONZE – Everest (Luc Steeghs) NED 0/0 42.12.