When the world's best young dressage horses meet at the FEI WBFSH World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses, the event also serves as an international showcase for the studbooks. At this year's championships in Verden, Germany, Danish Warmblood once again ranked among the very best.

The studbook fielded 12 horses across the three age groups, and no fewer than nine of them qualified for the finals. That is the same impressive number of finalists as last year and a result that underlines the high quality of the Danish Warmblood horses selected for the World Championships.

Danish one-two triumph among the six-year-olds

The major highlight came in the six-year-old final, where Danish Warmblood claimed both the gold and silver medals.

Faustino G. by Blue Hors Farrell/Sezuan, ridden by Betina Jæger, secured the world championship title and thus gold for Danish Warmblood. Faustino G. was bred by Stutteri G., owned by Helene Geervliet, who has made a strong impression at the championships for several years. This year marked the fourth consecutive time that Helene Geervliet attended the press conference as the breeder of a gold-medal winner—three of those years with Quinn G.

The triumph became a one-two finish when Dizzy by Hesselhøj Donkey Boy/Zack, bred by Hesselhoej and now owned by Helgstrand Dressage and Von Rossing Horses, followed with the silver medal for Danish Warmblood. It was a performance that emphatically reinforced Danish Warmblood's strong position in international dressage horse breeding.

Divya on the podium again

Sunday's seven-year-old final brought another medal for Danish Warmblood.

Twenty-year-old Theresa Rosenkilde rode Brandtbjergs Divya by Hesselhøj Donkey Boy/Blue Hors Don Olymbrio to bronze, giving the mare her second consecutive medal at the championships. Last year, Divya won silver with Anders Hoeck in the saddle.

The Danish-bred gold-medal mare was bred by Brandtbjerggaard, owned by the Buhl family, and has already demonstrated in both breeding and sport the quality that earned her the highest distinction in Danish Warmblood's grading system.

Divya's return home from another World Championship with a medal—this time with her new young rider—adds another chapter to the mare's remarkable story.

Dressage judge Gunilla Nyman has helped select Danish Warmblood combinations for the championships for ten years, this year together with Jens Holm Kristensen. Gunilla said: – It has been a tremendous success. People from many different nations have come to congratulate us on our fantastic horses and, not least, our fantastic riding.

A strong Danish championship tradition

The three medals were the visible culmination of a championship at which Danish Warmblood's results were also remarkable in depth. Nine of the 12 horses selected to represent Danish Warmblood in Verden reached the finals. This is particularly noteworthy at a championship where the horses meet the absolute international elite from Europe's leading studbooks and competition for the 15 final places in each age group is fierce.

With Faustino G.'s gold medal this year, Danish Warmblood has now won a total of 14 gold medals since its first medal in 2008, and 27 medals overall.

This year's result therefore continues a strong Danish tradition at the championships. Danish Warmblood has enjoyed considerable success at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses for decades and has produced stars such as Sezuan, Fiontini and, most recently, Quinn G., all of whom have written their names into championship history. Danish Warmblood is the only studbook to have won the championship three years in a row with the same horse—and has even achieved this feat with three different horses.

A strong signal from Danish breeding

The championships are about world titles and medals, but from a studbook's perspective they are about more than the placings on the day. The event is an excellent showcase for the studbook's breeding programme. On the strength of its results, Danish Warmblood's breeders can confidently measure themselves against international competition.

At the championships, the horses need not only potential and spectacular gaits, but also rideability, soundness, temperament and the ability to meet the demands of age-appropriate training.

Behind every horse lies purposeful breeding, age-appropriate training and good management. This year's championships once again demonstrated internationally that Danish dressage horse breeding remains among the strongest in the world.