Danish Warmblood and Andreas Helgstrand made history in Germany
The Danish Olympian Andreas Helgstrand made history at the WBFSH World Championships for young dressage horses in the German town Verden last weekend where he competed with two Danish Warmblood horses and won gold as well as silver.
Hønnerups Driver the Danish Warmblood World Champion
Each rider is only allowed to compete two horses in each age group and it has never happened before that a rider has won both the gold and the silver medal. For Andreas Helgstrand this world championship for young dressage horses was his first ever, and he is rightly proud to be riding the two best 5-year-old dressage horses in the world.
All four 5-year-old Danish Warmblod horses qualified for the final in Verden and two of the four 6-year-olds qualified for the final. In the qualifier the 5-year-old Skovens Rafael placed third, ridden by Lotte Skjærbæk, and the couple placed seventh in the final.
The stallion Skovens Rafael
This obvious success in Verden created an enormous interest for the Danish horses. In the Saturday night gala show in Verden Danish Warmblood had a feature presenting some high quality dressage and jumping horses. One of them was the extravagantly moving mare Polka Hit Nexen who won silver at last year’s world championships in Verden. The mare is now 7 years old and successfully ridden and internationally competed by Andreas Helgstrand.
World class horses are not bred coincidentally
The proud breeders from Stud Hønnerup
The 5-year-old world champion, Hønnerups Driver, is bred by Linda Hagedorn and Hans Marius Jørgensen, Stutteri Hønnerup, and is co-owned by the breeders and Andreas Helgstrand. Hønnerups Driver is by Blue Hors Romanov out of a Blue Hors Don Schufro dam, Hønnerups Zazzi.
9-year-old Zazzi has recently made her debut in Grand Prix with her Finnish rider. The entire dam line of Hønnerups Driver consists of performance proved mares that have been awarded medals for their outstanding conformation and gaits at the Danish Warmblood elite show, and/or have performed at advanced level dressage and all of them hold very high index values in dressage and conformation.
- I remember the first time I sat on this horse, Helgstrand recalls. From the first few steps he felt like a world class horse, and whenever I have a bad day I just have to remind myself that I have Driver, says Helgstrand about his new world champion who achieved an extraordinary 10 for his trot.
At the age of four Hønnerups Driver was ridden by the breeders’ daughter Wendy Hagedorn, who presented the horse at a suitability test in Billund last year, where Andreas Helgstrand discovered the horse and acquired half the ownership. Since then the tall liver chestnut gelding has been trained at Helgstrand Dressage.
Uno Don Unique
The runner-up world champion, UNO Donna Unique, is bred by Joan Andreasen and Søren Melgaard, Stutteri UNO, who also own the mare by Blue Hors Don Schufro and with Falkland as her dam sire. A half brother, the breeding sire UNO Don Diego by Dressage Royal, competed in the final for 6-year-olds in Verden this year under Thomas Lassen. Several siblings of UNO Donna Unique are approved stallions or successful dressage horses.
The stallion Uno don Diego
As a filly UNO Donna Unique was in the top three final at the national foal championships and at the age of three she became best dressage mare and awarded Danish Warmblood’s gold medal. In March this year UNO Donna Unique won the Danish Warmblod young dressage horse championship in Herning addressing Hønnerups Driver as runner-up.
The equally successfull five year old Danish Warmblood, Skovens Rafael, is by Blue Hors Romanov out of a mare by Blue Hors Don Schufro and he is bred by Kirsten B. Hansen and Jens Lund Pedersen, Stutteri Skoven, and co-owned by Lindgren and Skjærbæk. Yet again, a horse out of a strong dam line with highly decorated mares.
Skovens Rafael was acquired as a foal at the Danish Warmblood elite auction by a foreign investor and was licensed in Herning as a three year old. At the licensing in Herning he sold at the Danish Warmblood spring auction for a record breaking amount to his current owners and has been an almost unbeatable young dressage horse under his steady rider Lotte Skjærbæk, winning the Verden qualifier in Denmark with very high marks.
Remarkable Danish bloodlines
The Danish owned breeding stallion Blue Hors Don Schufro, Olympian finalist in Hong Kong, has played a significant role in the global dressage breeding during the last decade. He stands as sire or grand sire of all four Danish 5-year-old finalists in Verden this year. Don Schufro has proven to be a very strong dam sire and not least when combined with Blue Hors Romanov.
This combination has produced numerous winners at the Danish foal shows, mare gradings, stallion licensings and dressage championships for young horses. Several foals by these stallions and other Danish top sires will be present in the collection of elite foals at the upcoming Danish Warmblood elite foal auction.
Please feel free to contact us for further information about the horses and to visit our websites as mentioned below. Here you will find further information about the elite foal auction taking place on September 5, 2009.
To find out more about Danish sales horses please visit http://www.warmblood.dk.
