What a treat the past ten days of Olympic equestrian sports have been. On the iconic stage, the Palace Gardens of Versailles with the impressive Chateau de Versailles in the background, equestrian sports came into their own fantastically. Global Dressage Auction’s ninth auction collection goes hand in hand with Olympic grandeur. How? Koos Poppelaars tells us.
“The auction collection really is an excellent opportunity for the absolute dressage enthusiast,” quips Koos Poppelaars, who usually sees more than hundreds of foals a year anyway. “It is fantastic to be able to show these foals, embryos and broodmares to the general public. So many of these foals hark back to the Olympics, the past few days have proven once again that that is what our sport is all about. That stage, those performances, that really can’t be compared to anything.”
“Charmed by Total Hope and Indian Rock”
“For example, I myself was very charmed by the performances of Total Hope and Indian Rock, from both stallions we see very good foals back in the collection. In which the foal of Total Hope, also goes back to the full sister of Glock’s Johnson TN, this stallion was of great value to the Dutch team for many years and competed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.” So there is absolutely no lack of Olympic genes.
Half-brother or sister of Vitalis
Glock’s Total US is also an Olympic stallion; for example, he competed at the Tokyo Games and was the reserve horse this year. “From Vitalis’ dam, the mare Tolivia, a foal by Glock’s Total US will be born next year. So that will be Vitalis’ half-sibling or brother. Superb that we can offer this through our international platform!”, is Koos Poppelaars enthusiastic. Mother Tolivia was declared champion mare of the Netherlands as a three-year-old. Vitalis’ full brother My Vitality is a Danish premium stallion, won gold at the Danish championships for four-year-old dressage horses in 2021 and placed eighth at the World Championships for six-year-old dressage horses in 2023. His full brother One Two Three was approved by the KWPN and honored as a premium stallion.
Striking filly
From Germany, Sir Esco is part of the collection. “This filly goes back to the dam line of Olympic Don Schufro and on the sire’s side carries the very valuable blood of Sir Donnerhall. In addition, both the dam, grandmother and great-grandmother are German Elite mares,” Koos Poppelaars cites yet another foal with Olympic genes. “One of the most striking foals, I think, is Una Obsesión. This foal is by the young stallion Obsession Taonga and out of the half-sister of Glock’s Johnson. This foal really knows how to convince with her model, looks, movements and pedigree. And then it is also a mare!”, sounds Koos Poppelaars enthusiastic.
Damline Kjento
In addition to the Olympic genes, Koos Poppelaars says there are some interesting foals, embryos and broodmares. “Like the half-brother of the auction topper of two years ago,” referring to Uvolia R&G (by Du Monde). “Or the filly Uquila Grootenhout, she is the half-sister of two Small Tour horses. The Grand Prix mare Reine B is the grandmother of Un Ami and the Opoque foal comes from the dam line of two-time world champion Kjento,” citing just a few more interesting highlights from the collection. “I am super proud of this collection, it would not have been possible without the breeders. I am extremely grateful to them for that. They show a lot of confidence in our auction and the auction platform.”
The collection is online, bidding starts Thursday, August 15 and the auction closes Sunday, August 18 from 8 p.m. onwards. Registering as a bidder is easy and free.
