Tessaduela tops the first evening of the Zangersheide Quality Auctions at €100,000

The first of three Zangersheide Quality Auction evenings brought the World Championship to a fitting close on Thursday at Domein Zangersheide, where an international audience gathered for the week’s opening auction, led by auctioneer Frederik De Backer. The Zangersheide Quality Auction – Young Horses & Embryos brought together a carefully selected collection of talented three-year-old free-jumpers and seven highly exclusive implanted pregnancies, marking the first time embryos have been offered during World Championship week in Lanaken.

The evening quickly gathered momentum with the three-year-old Aspen Z (Aganix du Seigneur Z × Diamant de Semilly), who sparked the first bidding duel in the room. A grandson of Judy Ann Melchior’s WEG bronze medallist Cha Cha Z, the promising stallion attracted keen interest before the hammer eventually fell at €60,000 to a Swedish stallion investor.

A new chapter for the Zangersheide Quality Auction
Thursday evening also marked a first in Lanaken, with seven exclusive embryo-transferred pregnancies joining the young horses in the collection during World Championship week.

The opportunity to invest directly in some of the most established mares and dam lines in international show jumping attracted strong interest. A pregnancy from McLain Ward’s Olympic and World Cup Final-winning mare HH Azur, by Dexter de Kerglenn, realised €66,000, whilst the Dominator 2000 Z pregnancy from Julia vd Donkhoeve was sold for €60,000. Julia vd Donkhoeve is the dam of Thibeau Spits’ European Team Champion and double World Championship silver medallist, Impress-K van ’t Kattenheye Z.

Back among the three-year-olds, Endorfine KR Z (Emerald × Comme Il Faut) emerged as another highlight of the collection. The talented mare attracted plenty of attention before the hammer fell at €72,000.