Kraken Plappecourt Z wins the championship free jumping for 3-year-olds!

After the concluding series of the foal championships on Sunday, it was time for the 3-year-old horses to step into the spotlight on the final day of Z-Festival 2025. In the Indoor Arena, they had the chance to show their jumping talent during the traditional free-jumping championship. For this edition, 25 promising young horses competed, which were carefully judged by our expert jury on technique, scope and overall impression. Each section earned up to 10 points, good for a maximum total score of 30.

The horse that managed to impress the most in this was the grey stallion Kraken Plappecourt Z, a breeding product of Guillaume Steinmetz who combined the blood of Kassander van 't Roosakker Z with that of Connor. Dam Chimere De L'othain Z is a half-sister of the stallion Eltoreo de l'Othain Z (El Torreo de Muze), who currently jumps up to 1.50m level with French rider Quentin Paris. As the first horse in the ring, Kraken Plappecourt Z immediately left an excellent impression with the judges who rewarded him with a total score of 26.5 points, with a 9 for both technique and scope and an 8.5 for overall impression.

^2nd place went to the chestnut mare Cabanna de Nyze Z, a breeding product of the Nijs family of Stud de Nyze. Cabanna de Nyze Z is a daughter of Comilfo Plus Z and Quadrillo and thus the full sister of none other than Landon. Who became world-famous for his good performances under the saddle of American world number 1 Kent Farrington and has been seen under the saddle of Israeli rider Daniel Bluman for several months now. Cabanna de Nyze Z also showed a lot of quality in the arena and for her performance also received a 9 for technique, an 8.5 for scope and again an 8.5 for general impression, thus making a total of 26.00 points

The bronze went to the stallion Arrow Z, a promising son of Aganix du Seigneur Z and Carthino Z bred by De Boer Geerligs. Dam Felice herself jumped at 1.35m level with Dutch rider Marriet Smit-Hoekstra and comes from the same dam line as Australian rider Jessica Burton's Grand Prix horses Alondra (Indorado) and French rider Titouan Schumacher's Illusion (Balou du Rouet). Arrow Z achieved a total score of 25.75 with an 8.25 for technique, a 9 for scope and an 8.5 for overall impression.