Text © World of Showjumping

“That's the dream, isn't it – the World Championships in Aachen, and having another horse possibly good enough to go to an Olympics,” the 30-year-old Irish Olympian Bertram Allen tells World of Showjumping about the new star in his stable, the 9-year-old gelding Qonquest de Rigo (Fantomas de Muze x Indoctro, bred by Ulrik Goossens). “While that's what we all want, everything has to go right – and everybody has to stay healthy – but at least we can dream.”

With Allen’s Tokyo Olympic mount Pacino Amiro (Pacino x NC Amiro) having been sidelined due to an injury that he sustained last year, Qonquest de Rigo has not only stepped up to substitute him, but done so with flying colours. After making his first international outing with Allen in October 2024, the now 9-year-old has impressed every step of the way. In his first CSI4* Grand Prix during the 2025 Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, Qonquest de Rigo recorded a single time penalty, and then went on to place fourth in the CSI4* Horseware Ireland Grand Prix and fifth in the CSI5* Rolex US Equestrian Open Grand Prix – all in the span of two months. This spring, Qonquest de Rigo jumped double clear to place fifth in the CSI5* 1.60m GL Events Grand Prix in Fontainebleau and then went on to contribute to the Irish victory in the CSIO5* 1.60m Barriére Nations Cup in La Baule in June with another flawless performance. The strong results earned the pair selection for the Longines FEI Jumping European Championship 2025 in A Coruña, Spain, where they finished fourth with the Irish team and with valuable experience for the only 9-year-old gelding. 

World of Showjumping spoke with breeder Ulrik Goossens, Tom Verduyn – who produced the talented gelding until Allen took over the reins, as well as with Bertram Allen about Qonquest de Rigo’s road to the top.

Allen discovered Qonquest last fall while competing at Sentower Park in Opglabbeek, Belgium. “There was a Belgian championship for 8-year-olds along with the two-star,” he recalls. “I was actually not even watching the class; I was in the restaurant and the television in there is always about half-a-round behind. I just watched three or four jumps from Qonquest and liked what I saw: He seemed to have a lot of blood and scope, so I ran down without really knowing the horse or watching more videos of him. Something just caught my eye.”

“I went down to the arena and Pedro Renault, who works for Francois Mathy, was already there,” Allen continues. “After speaking with Pedro and Francois, we tried Qonquest and originally we bought him together.”

Although obviously talented, Qonquest was still very green when moving to Allen’s stable. “He is a very sensitive horse, and there were many things he still needed to learn,” Allen explains about the beginning of their journey. “He wanted to do the right thing, but he was so sensitive and sometimes he just didn't understand what I wanted. In that way, it felt like a little bit of a gamble when we bought him. However, with young horses, you never really know: You have a trial and you get a gut feeling. There is always a need to improve when you're buying young horses, and they have to want to work with you – and that is the risk you have to take.”

“The first few months we took it very slow and there was a lot to figure out,” Allen continues. “We did a few national shows and then I brought him to Valencia for two weeks. That was very good for him. I got to know him a little bit better there, and he jumped his first ranking class. When the indoor season started, I only did two-stars and took my time. I didn't care at all about how he was jumping, I was just trying to get all the basic things right and make sure that we understood each other. The more the basics were right, the more everything started to work. He started to jump very impressively and to be consistently clear.”

For the winter, Allen’s plan was to go to Wellington, and therefore he did not focus much on the indoor shows. “My goal was to have Qonquest as educated as possible, so that when he got to Wellington, he could maybe step up a level,” Allen explains. “There it's great for a nine-year-old because you can go up and down in the classes every week. You can go off of your feeling on how much you should and shouldn't do.”

“Qonquest jumped great in Wellington,” Allen continues. “We did the four-star Nations Cup, and he was good – jumping clear in the first round and with four faults in round two. That was a very good experience for him. His first five-star Grand Prix was the Rolex Grand Prix during the last week there, where he placed fifth.”

After returning to Europe, Qonquest got a break before gearing towards Fontainebleau and La Baule. “He did one small show before Fontainebleau, where he was double clear and fifth in the Grand Prix,” Allen tells. “Then I gave him a few weeks off again, and did one small show before La Baule.”

In La Baule, Allen and Qonquest delivered a double clear in the CSIO5* 1.60m Barriére Nations Cup – helping Ireland to the win. “It was all new for him to some extent,” Allen tells. “He had done a smaller Nations Cup and he had done five-stars, but La Baule is quite a special venue. I was first to go on the team, which maybe wasn't perfect, because he has such a big stride. Sometimes if I watch a bit, it makes it a little bit easier. However, I was really focused to have the right plan for him, and he jumped fantastic. The first round was very good and the second round was even better. He seems to be a very intelligent horse; when he does something once, he knows how to handle the same situation the next time.”

For the future, Allen has big plans for Qonquest. “I thought he was a very good horse when I bought him, but it's hard to predict when the horses are a bit green like he was," Allen points out. "I was hopeful that he would be a real Grand Prix horse, and after the first few shows, I could really feel that he was something a bit different. My goal this year was to be able to bring him to the European Championship, and now we look forward to Dublin.”

“At the moment he's obviously my best horse because Pacino was until recently out due to an injury,” Allen continues. “Pacino is back now; he's jumping and he feels great. It would be fantastic if I could have the two of them going and really make a good plan for both. If the two of them stay healthy, I would have two super horses.”

For Ulrik Goossens, Qonquest de Rigo was the second foal that he bred from his mare Daymika – who later has had another three offspring. “Qonquest's mother Daymika is a bloody mare with a lot of character, who you have to handle with care,” Goossens tells. “I bought Daymika from a small Dutch breeder as a foal. She has the character of Chin Chin, always forward! I chose Fantomas de Muze as Qonquest's father because he passes on a lot of power and a good character. Qonquest was a big, beautiful colt and showed a lot of power as a foal.”

“I have a half-sister and two half-brothers of Qonquest, and we are expecting another one this summer. Breeding is a hobby for me, and we have about ten horses,” Goossens, who is a landscape gardener, explains. “I have always had a passion for horses. We are very happy and proud that we have bred a horse like Qonquest, and it is nice to see him succeed at the top level now. I believe that Bertram is the right fit for him and I hope that they can continue to grow together – I wish them all the best.”

Tom Verduyn and his wife Julie Vandamme – who run Stal Verduyn in Ichtegem near Bruges in Belgium – focus on breeding and producing quality young horses. They bought Qonquest as a two-year-old from Goossens. “When we bought Qonquest he was a stallion, but quite quickly we decided to focus on the sport with him instead of stallion approvals and castrated him,” Verduyn explains. “He is a big horse, so in the beginning he needed a lot of time. We never pushed him. He did small courses as a four-and five-year-old, only to get experience.”

“When he got stronger in his body, we could do a bit more and as a 7-year-old he started to do really well,” Verduyn continues. “However, he was not a horse that everyone fell in love with; he did not look spectacular. The feeling was there though. As a rider, I said from the beginning that he would be a horse for the big tasks, for the likes of Aachen, major championships and the Olympics. Nobody really believed me, maybe because of his modest looks. The feeling on him was superior to what one could see.”

The feeling Qonquest gave Verduyn motivated him to keep working. “He was a really sensitive horse, with a strong personality,” Verduyn describes the talented gelding. “I was the only one that rode him; he needed to have one plan and one rider. He was really lovely to handle, though; our kids could take him out and brush him.”

As producing young horses towards the bigger sport is Verduyn’s specialty, selling eventually becomes necessary. Understanding the quality Qonquest had, Verduyn only wanted to consider serious offers – and along came Allen. “Was Qonquest a horse that we wanted to get out of the stable? No. We knew his value and understood he had serious potential. With Bertram, we knew that Qonquest could have all the opportunities to show what he is capable of.” 

Verduyn is proud to follow Allen and Qonquest’s progress. “We are following him everywhere he goes, we are huge fans,” he tells. “My wife was in Wellington when he jumped his first Grand Prix, and we will try to go to Dublin to see him again.”

6.8.2025 No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.