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“I’m really lucky; every show I bring him to, he always tries to win!” Lillie Keenan says about her 12-year-old stallion Agana van het Gerendal Z (Aganix du Seigneur Z x Topas). 

The pair has been together since the stallion was seven and has been victorious at some of the most prestigious venues in the world – Aachen included. Last year, the two recorded their biggest win yet when taking the top honours in the CSI4*-W 1.60m Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ of Las Vegas, as well the CSI4*-W 1.50m qualifier at the same venue. World of Showjumping spoke with Agana’s breeder Ben Verheij, his daughter Jil who produced the stallion, as well as Lillie Keenan, to discover that his journey to stardom has been a true family affair. 

Agana’s mother Naminka (by Topas) comes out of the famous Freiminka-bloodline. Although an injury at the age of five put a stop to Naminka’s sports career, she went on to breed several horses for the international sport – all of them born on the Verheij-family’s farm, a short drive from Maastricht, the Netherlands. “In the end, Naminka’s injury was luck in disguise – had she ended up doing the sport, we would have probably ended up selling her,” Ben says. 

In the end, Naminka’s injury was luck in disguise

The choice to combine Naminka with Aganix de Seigneur – that at the time was only four – was made after a call from Luc Henry, one of the world’s leading breeders. “One day, Luc called me up and told me he had bought a fantastic young stallion – that was Aganix. I went there to have a look at him jump, and he was incredible. I was immediately impressed by him,” Ben recalls.  

“We made a deal that Luc could flush Naminka, and that the first embryo would be for us, the second for him and so on. At the end of 2010, Luc called me and said he had two recipient mares pregnant for me. In 2011, Agana and Apollo were born. Luc also got two offspring, Akham Hero Z and Aga Khan Hero Z. Unfortunately, Aga Khan Hero Z sustained an injury when he was younger, while Apollo and Akham Hero Z both went on to jump at international level. However, Agana ended up being the best by far."

Both Aganix and Naminka are line-breeding products, which I am a big fan of

“Naminka also gave us Vimminka (by Nabab de Reve), that jumped at 1.50m level with Scottie Barclay and Alexander Butler – and that won over fourty national Grand Prix classes in Ireland. Vimminka is the mother of Ladycastle Diego that jumped successfully with Jana Wargers at CHIO Aachen last year, and of Ladycastle Paco that jumps on two-star Grand Prix level with Nicholas Butler,” Ben explains. 

“Both Aganix and Naminka are line-breeding products, which I am a big fan of,” Ben continues. “I think the cross between these two line-breeding products – with extremely high-quality – is the strength of Agana’s breeding. On top, Aganix is in my opinion one of the best stallions in the world – he gives offspring with a lot of scope and quality.”

“Until he was three, Agana was in a big group of young horses in Grubbenvorst, in the north of Limburg, The Netherlands. When he came back home, he was quite wild,” Ben laughs. “However, from the first jump he did over a pole on the ground, we were wowed – you could never have guessed that he had never done it before,” Ben says. “From that moment, we knew he was exceptional, although he has surpassed all our expectations.” 

“I think it is the genetic basis of Agana’s dam-line that has helped him become the horse he is; he is incredibly intelligent,” Ben points out. “He is – and always was – the kind of horse that knows when it is important and not. It’s one of the strengths of his damline.”

The genetic basis of Agana’s dam-line that has helped him become the horse he is

“On his mother’s side, Agana’s grandmother Carelda is the full sister of Totilas’ grandmother Elsa, so this exceptional cleverness and intelligence, as well as the drive to do perform, it is really anchored in the damline,” Ben continues. “Cadeauminka (by Kannan) – that is bred by my ex-wife Sandra Schmuecker, and now competes successfully at 1.50m level with Lillie – is also out of this damline. Cadeauminka’s mother Beauminka – who competed at 1.60m level with Abdel Said – is out of Carelda too. I do have to say though, that it is a fine line as some of the mares from this damline are very bloody and hot – at times making them better breeding mares than performers.”

“Agana came to me and my mum to be saddle broken just before he turned four,” Jil Verhheij tells. “Like my dad said, when we first free jumped Agana, he showed a lot of potential, and we had high expectations to him from the very beginning. Agana loved to jump; if he was loose in the indoor and there were fences out, he would often make a jump on his own.”

We had high expectations to him from the very beginning

“I saddle broke Agana together with my mum,” Jil continues. “He was quite easy-going with everything, and he was very smart. As a stallion he was quite chill, but you had to be aware. When jumping, he had a very good front-leg technique. In the beginning, he was quite weak though, he found it hard to sit in canter and he had some problems finishing the jump behind in the right way. However, with galloping in the woods and dressage work, he grew stronger. I like to give the younger horses a lot of time and assess their individual needs – all horses are different – and that’s what I did with Agana when working to get him stronger. For me, my feeling with each horse is very important. If I believe they need more patience and time, I don’t rush them to be at the same level as other horses in their age category.”

“We gave Agana a lot of attention and love already from he was a foal. My father is a breeder who really loves all his horses, so already from they are foals they are used to being in human hands and they rarely have the chance to get shy. That being said, we were always very consequent with him – we did not want him to get spoiled,” Jil tells about Agana’s upbringing. 

“At the time, I was still studying so my mother also rode him quite a lot at home,” Jil tells. “So, I find it quite funny that Lillie’s mother Pam now rides him too. He is a real family horse!”

We gave Agana a lot of attention and love already from he was a foal

“At home, Agana was never really that motivated, but he always knew when it was showtime – already from doing his first shows when he was four. When he came to the show, he knew it had to happen and he just loved the game,” Jil tells. “He was never a horse that jumped spectacular or over the wings, but he was a real clear round machine. You could go anywhere, and you knew he was going to be clear. If he had one down, we would be quite disappointed, which honestly was unfair – but we were just not used to it with him.”

“We did a lot of youngster classes with him, and he was just a really cool horse to take to the shows because of his attitude and will to always be clear,” Jil tells. “When he was five, I jumped him at the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in Lanaken – he was clear the whole way and we finished fourth. I had mostly done local young horse shows up until then, and it was the first time I went really fast in a jump-off. I really tried, and it was a lot of fun, even though Willem Greve – my trainer at the time – pushed us off the podium in the end. When Agana was six, I also jumped him in Lanaken but we did not have our best day in the first qualifier and we missed out on the final.”

“There was a lot of interest in Agana, but we never actually wanted to sell him,” Jil tells. “He was really special to all of us, and my dad loved him. For my dad, it was special to have his own daughter riding a home bred horse as good as Agana so he turned down a lot of offers. However, in the fall when he was six, my dad eventually let Agana be tried by Cian O’Connor – who Lillie was training with at the time. It went very well, and shortly after that Agana was sold. When I heard it would be Lillie riding him, I thought it was really nice – I was happy for Agana to end up in such a good home and in such a professional team.”

He was really special to all of us, and my dad loved him

“We had a lot of pleasure with Jil riding Agana,” Ben tells. “I kept him for her for as long as I could, but in the end, we could not refuse the offers anymore. However, it could not have been better – Agana and Lillie are simply the perfect match!”

“Lillie has been so nice, and she always keeps us updated on how Agana is doing – it’s quite rare I think, and we really appreciate it. Whenever she is in Belgium or Holland, she invites us to come visit him. It’s great following them, they just keep getting better and better,” Jil says.

“To have your own breeding product win in Aachen, like Agana did in 2021, is of course special, but it was also fantastic to see him jump in the 1.60m RWE Prize of North-Rhine-Westphalia last year,” Ben says. “Perhaps he is not the kind of horse who has the very, very last scope, but those 10 last cm up to 1.60m he jumps out of his dynamic attitude. He is also a horse that is still growing into the top sport, and he keeps getting better and better. The coming three years will hopefully be his best ones. I think it’s great that Lillie has brought him on carefully, and I have a feeling she really starts believing in him for the bigger Grand Prix classes.”

“Agana himself also has some promising offspring,” Ben tells. “All Minka van het Gerendal Z – that I bred myself – is out of our homebred World Cup winner Echo van het Gerendal Z (by Echo van ’t Spieveld), that now competes in the US with Chris Ewanouski, after first being successful with Manon Hees. Together with the Tacken-family, that I have worked with for over 25 years, I also have a full-brother and a full-sister from that combination. I also bought Athena Hero, an Agana-mare out of the damline from Electra and Atoucha van het Roosakker – a real quality horse turning four this year. Furthermore, I have another 5-year-old, a stallion called Atypical van het Gerendal Z, out of a mare by Cambridge – he has been bred by a friend of mine.”

Agana himself also has some promising offspring

“It's of course very special for us with All Minka, she looks really promising and has a lot of quality. With All Minka, it’s all about not going too fast,” Ben tells about the 5-year-old mare that Jil is now producing. “So, it’s all a very nice story, a real family story – it’s a pity that my father, who started our breeding program, is no longer with us to experience it all.”

“Currently, I ride both All Minka and Atypical,” Jil tells. “All Minka is very similar to her mother, while Atypcial is very similar to Agana – so I have a lot of fun riding them both.”

“To do this with my daughter is my drive,” Ben says. “We have a big group of quality horses at the moment, so let’s see what the future brings.”

Although Agana had been hugely successful with Jil, this was not necessarily a good sign for Lillie. “When I look at young horses, I don’t view it as a solely positive thing if they have been winning everything,” Lillie explains. “I think many horses can’t sustain those results and end up getting burned out before they reach the top sport. However, Agana has definitely been an exception to that.” 

My mum just told me that I will learn to ride this horse

It was Lillie’s mother Pam that fell in love with Agana and convinced her to buy him. “We tried Agana at the very end of his sixth year, around Christmas. When I tried him, I felt really insecure and as if we did not understand each other,” Lillie recalls. “After we jumped around a bit, my mum just told me that I will learn to ride this horse – so he has really been her horse! I was not questioning his ability at all though; it was all about me doubting if we would be a match. However, thank God I listened to my mum because she ended up being right. It did not take long for us to find each other, and now he is one of the most straightforward horses that I ride.”

“From the day that we bought him, he has been a horse that truly understood what the goal was,” Lillie explains. “When he goes to the show, he wants to win, and he has never been complicated or spooky about anything. He is a rare case of a horse; he can go to a show and win the first speed class, or he can go into a five-star Grand Prix – I don’t think there are many horses that are as versatile as he is.”

He is so intelligent, and unique

“I cannot say enough good things about his mentality,” Lillie continues. “When you ride him at home, you know he is a stallion because he talks a lot and I think he wants other horses to know that he is the alpha male. However, he goes in a snaffle and you never feel that he is trying to do anything else than work with you. When my mum rides him, he stands at the mounting block like a pony – waiting for her. He is the only horse in my stable that can go and win a speed class or a Grand Prix, then come home and my mum can jump him around – and my mum is 71 and very small. He is so intelligent, and unique.”

“I think it is a credit to the way he was raised and trained as a young horse,” Lillie says about Agana. “I have so much respect for the breeders and for the job they do, but also for the process of how they raise their horses. Agana is so educated in the hand, is so polite when you work with him and truly understands his job. I think the education he got has given him the little extra. Every time we show, I know Ben is watching. The Verheij-family is so invested in the horse, which I think is nice for him – he truly has a family that really cares about him.” 

While Agana has an outstanding mentality, Lillie believes it is his huge heart that really sets him apart. “He will give you a hundred percent of himself, every single time,” she says. “He just gets it; you don’t have to convince him of anything. I think the fact that he has only ever had Jil and me competing him, and that we have both believed in him, has helped.” 

He will give you a hundred percent of himself, every single time

“He has everything you want in a horse; he is careful, scopey and quick, and easy to ride – and on the highest level, finding a horse that has all these abilities and is not difficult… that is rare,” Lillie continues. “While he has all of that, I think his key quality is his heart. I believe it grew, because of the Verheij-family that owned him before us – and now my family. We were the only owners in his life; and neither of us ever asked him to do something that was out of his ability. He always had immense ability, and our trust in him has allowed him to grow into the horse he is today.” 

Looking towards the future with Agana, Lillie hopes to give the stallion more opportunities to show what kind of a superstar he truly is. “He is now quite experienced, and I would say that over the past two years, he has had to fill in,” she explains. “I had to jump him in some five-stars because my other top horse was injured. He has had to step up, not necessarily when it was best for him, but when I needed him to a fill a place in my string – and he has taken every challenge in his stride. Every horse can surprise, and as a youngster he jumped so flashy that many people said he would run out of scope – but he has just found more. He is an integral part of my string of horses; I can take him to any show in the world and feel confident that we will be able to win a class.”

I can take him to any show in the world and feel confident that we will be able to win a class

“Hopefully I get to compete with him for a really, really long time,” Lillie concludes. “I would like to give him more opportunities to shine himself. I have always known how good he is, but sometimes he might have been overshadowed by my other horses. My goal is to continue giving him everything I can, because that is what he does for me.”

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