18 July '25
Amalia AC Z and Capri Vd Berghoeve Z are the first winners of Z Festival 2025
© Paardenfotograaf
Under a radiant sun, the starting signal for Z-Festival 2025 was given this morning at our beautiful domain in Lanaken. For three days, sport and breeding will once again go hand in hand with, on the one hand, a round of the STX Cycle for young horses and a stage of the STX & Parlanti Golden Boot and, on the other, our Belgian Zangersheide Foal Championship. During this first festival day, it was traditionally the turn of the youngest foals - born between 18 May and 18 June 2025 - to be the first to enter the ring and show themselves to the world. They were judged by an international jury consisting of Frenchman Eric Levallois, German Heinz Meyer and our compatriot Tom Lemmens. They evaluated each foal on five fixed criteria: type, correctness, movement, general impression and dam line, with a maximum of 10 points per section each time.
Filly foals
From 9 a.m. onwards, the fillies were the first to take the stage and in this first series, many promising foals once again made their appearance. The filly that impressed our international jury the most was the elegant Amalia AC Z, a daughter of our chestnut stallion Aganix du Seigneur Z in combination with Kannan. Bred by Ann Koppens, Amalia AC Z is a direct daughter of the mare Kai Mook AC Z, currently competing at 1.45m level under the saddle of Belgian rider Tommy Dermaut.
Silver in this opening series was reserved for the filly Cassandra v/h Gouden Bit Z, a breeding product of Peter Goossens. Cassandra v/h Gouden Bit Z is a daughter of Casallco and Clinton I and is out of the mare Kablesse Of Ballmore, who in turn is the full sister of the stallion Leopard Of Ballmore. The latter jumped at 1.60m level under the saddle of Hungarian rider Zsofia Vandor.
Finally, third place went to the colt High Hopes Z, a breeding product of Hof Brüning. For High Hopes Z, a combination of the influential sire Heartbreaker combined with Come On was chosen. High Hopes Z comes from a true performance family, as both dam Caribik Z (Come On) and granddam Luisa D (Falkenhof's Lancer) jumped at 1.60m level themselves and did so with Maximilian Weishaupt and rider Annette Hülsmann, respectively.
Colts
After the fillies made their appearance in the morning, it was the turn of the first series of colts from 13.00 hrs. The foal that managed to impress the most in this was Capri vd Berghoeve Z, a breeding product of Paul Van den Bosch. Capri vd Berghoeve Z is a son of Cardento VDL out of a Nabab de Rêve dam, named Naëlle Z. The latter is the last daughter of none other than the legendary Ta Belle van Sombeke (Chin Chin) and thus a half-sister of such international top horses as Glock's London, Taran de la Pomme and Golden Hawk.
There was a fine second place for the colt Myloff Z . Myloff Z is a son of Mosito van het Hellehof combined with Numero Uno and was bred by Hans Schipper. His dam, Hands-Off (Numero Uno), jumped at 1.50m level herself and is a full sister of Take-Off, who was active at the very highest level for many years under the saddle of top Canadian rider Eric Lamaze. Grandam Odile (Indoctro) also managed to distinguish herself in the international sport with results at 1.50m level.
The bronze in this series went to E-Star de Nyze Z, a promising colt from the stud farm of Danny Nijs and his family. E-Star de Nyze Z is a son of the popular Ermitage Kalone and is out of Indigo van de Meulenberg (Quadrillo Z), who herself is the dam of the Grand Prix horse Landon (Comilfo Plus Z). Landon, known for his impressive performances with American rider Kent Farrington, recently formed a combination with Israeli rider Daniel Bluman.