Edited press release from the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses

The first world champions were crowned at the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses 2022 in Lanaken, Belgium, this morning as Gerard O'Neill (IRL) piloted BP Goodfellas (Stakkato Gold x O.B.O.S Quality) to the victory among the 5-year-old horses. 

Course builder Eugène Mathy and his team had designed a track consisting of 13 fences and 16 jumps for this first final of the day, set at a maximum height of 1.30m. The level was again sky-high, as no less than 18 of the 47 combinations that qualified for the final cleared the course and moved on to the jump-off. 

In the jump-off, the competition was fierce. O'Neill was the third last combination to start with the Irish-bred gelding BP Goodfellas, bred by Kevin Babington, and managed to outsmart the competition with a clear round in 40.12 seconds to take the gold medal – an impressive result considering that O'Neill took the reins only four weeks before this championship. 

The Irish bred gelding was in good hands with his new rider though, as O'Neill has claimed championship titles in Lanaken twice on previous occasions. "I have nothing but admiration for this horse. He didn't need, in retrospect, to jump the double, with the speed at which I entered. But he did a great job, he is a nice horse to ride with a real winner's mentality. I also rode his mother a long time ago, so that makes a nice story. And I expect this is only the first chapter for BP Goodfellas," said the winner. 

The other podium places went to Dutch riders with Olivier van der Vaart and the 5-year-old BWP gelding Ristretto van de Heffinck (Aldo du Plessis x Cooper van de Heffinck), a breeding product of the Hamerlinck-family and a son of Niels Bruynseels' former GP mare Libelle vd Heffinck, taking the silver. Van der Vaart and Ristretto van de Heffinck were briefly in the lead with a clear round in 40.52 seconds but had to settle for silver after O'Neill and BP Goodfellas completed their round.

Bronze went to Van der Vaart’s compatriot Jarno van Erp with the KWPN-bred and licensed stallion Mindset ES, a son of Aganix du Seigneur Z x Kannan bred by Egbert Schep. Van Erp and Mindset ET appeared in the jump-off as the first combination in the ring and set the time to beat with a clear round in 42.05 seconds.

Christian Ahlmann with the Zangersheide-mare Ansigh de Lis Z (Aganix du Seigneur Z x Kannan, breeder W.M. Lisman) and Thibaut Huyvaert with the Holstein-bred gelding Davis 17 (Diarado x Casall, breeder Timm Peters) completed the top five on the standings.