Vilhelmsborg brought breeding and sport together during the first week of September. The Elite Show featured 165 foals, two-year-olds, mares and geldings, while the accompanying dressage meeting recorded 425 starts. Together, the events brought more than 500 horses to the venue, providing breeders, riders and buyers with an opportunity to see Danish Warmblood horses at different stages of their development.

The programme separated the disciplines, with dressage breeding on Friday and Saturday and jumping on Sunday. The medal presentations offered recognition for individual horses and for the breeders whose decisions had shaped them.

Silver honours for the leading dressage mares

Nordstrands Femme Fetale (Fifty-Fifty x Quaterhit) was named Dressage Mare of the Year. Bred by Gitte Nordstrand Larsen and owned by MT Dressage ApS and CK Dressage ApS, she combined the season’s best performance-test result with the national title.

The dressage mare selection comprised 34 medal candidates from 164 mares presented at ridden gradings. The final medal tally was nine silver and 25 bronzes, with all four finalists receiving silver.

Joining the champion in the final were Straight Horse Be A Lady (Be Sure x Franklin), bred and owned by Straight Horse ApS; Teglovnens F’Irenee (Blue Hors St. Schufro x Franklin), bred and owned by Stutteri Teglovnen ApS; and Lomus Fifty Shades of Love (Fifty x Blue Hors Zackerey), bred by Lo Breiding and Sophie Wilson and owned by Marlene Larsen.

Judges Vicky Nortvig, Bjarne Nielsen and Johnny Sørensen emphasised three quality gaits, temperament and willingness to work under saddle. No mare received gold this year.

Two geldings make history

The dressage geldings supplied a historic moment as Faustino G. and Jackson M became the first geldings to receive gold breeder’s medals at the Elite Show.

Six-year-old Faustino G. (Blue Hors Farrell x Sezuan), bred and owned by Helene Geervliet’s Stutteri G., added the Dressage Gelding of the Year title to his World Championship gold under Betina Jæger. His breeder also bred his dam and granddam, making the award a recognition of several generations of her work.

The second gold went to five-year-old Jackson M (Jovian x Fürstenball), bred by Sanne Mathiasen and owned by Helle Emberg Bønnelycke. He had finished second in the young horse championship earlier in the season. Across the 13 dressage geldings, the medals totalled two gold, five silver and six bronze.

Grading geldings broadens the information available to the breeding programme. Their conformation and performance assessments also document the quality of their dams and families, and can contribute towards a mare’s elite status. For breeders whose best offspring include geldings, the scheme provides an additional route to recognition.

Vita Ask heads the jumping mares

Sunday’s jumping medal classes featured 12 mares and two geldings. All 14 received medals, with four silver and ten bronze awarded.

Three-year-old Vita Ask (Jewel Ask Z x Todt Un Prince Ask) was named Jumping Mare of the Year and received silver. She was bred by Stutteri Ask A/S and is owned by Stutteri Ask and Blue Hors.

The other silver medallists were Chiara DWB (Bøgegårdens Chacoon x Chico’s Boy), bred by Mie Nielsen and Theo de Vos and owned by Anette and Jacob Solkær Hougaard; Calvana Sall (Action Man Ask Z x Colman), bred by Tina and Erik Sallingboe and owned by MMH Invest Holding ApS; and Chile (Chacfly PS x Quasimodo Z), bred and owned by Witt Horses ApS.

Both three-year-old jumping geldings received bronze: Amazing Fireball N (Apardi x Charly Z), bred and owned by Susan A. Nijhuis, and Normann’s Callisto (Cassado Ask x Carmargue), bred and owned by Stine and Joakim Søgaard Normann.

Results