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In a few weeks’ time, New Zealand’s Luke Dee and Gangster WW (Grand Slam VDL x Kannan) will be making their championship debut at the 2026 FEI Jumping World Championships in Aachen, Germany – a dream that has been years in the making. Before finding the now 10-year-old gelding in Europe as a youngster, Luke had sat down with his supporters to map out a plan for the future.

“Five years ago, we sat around the table – myself, my horse co-owner Fiona and my now fiancé Amelia – and scribbled down our dreams on a piece of paper and what we were hoping to achieve,” the 33-year-old explains to World of Showjumping. “A year after that, we found Gangster as a six-year-old. When I tried him, I thought that he was the best young horse I had ever ridden in my life. We took him back to New Zealand and always hoped that our dream on a piece of paper would work out. Thankfully, we were able to produce him in New Zealand before bringing him back to compete in Europe. He's really stepped up every year since we have owned him. As a youngster, he wasn't an easy ride and it took a long time for him to mature and develop. Certainly, in the last year, he has gone above and beyond and turned into the horse that we all see today.”

Luke left school when he was 18, moved over to Europe and spent a lot of time between Europe and America. “I was working for the likes of Cian O'Connor and Darragh Kenny,” he explains. “I spent about seven years abroad before I went back to New Zealand. I was riding a little bit back home and then I met my current owner, Fiona. We shared a mutual idea of buying a horse to go to the World Championships – and that was about five years ago now. We came over to Europe, bought Gangster from Cian O'Connor and took him back to New Zealand.”

If I had a different attitude, I certainly wouldn't be where I am today.

“The sport in New Zealand is certainly a long way from Europe,” Luke notes. “We don't have the numbers or the money that we see in Europe and America, but I believe there are a lot of talented riders in New Zealand, and some good horses as well. A lot of people are trying to do good things to bridge the gap between the sport there and in Europe. There's a lot of nice shows being organised and people are putting a lot more effort into them, trying to create an environment so that when people do leave New Zealand – or Australia for that matter – they can come over to Europe and not feel so out of depth.”

“Being from New Zealand, this often seems like a long way away and it seems very difficult to get to Europe and be in these top places. However, I think that if you're willing to have a go and work hard, then absolutely come and do it. If I had a different attitude, I certainly wouldn't be where I am today. I'm a huge advocator of people having a go.”

After carefully producing the now 10-year-old gelding Gangster (Grand Slam VDL x Kannan) in New Zealand, Luke returned to Europe ahead of the 2025 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Basel. The two started 2026 by placing second in the CSI5*-W Grand Prix of Amsterdam in January and went on to win the CSI3* Stal Hendrix Grand Prix in Kessel in May before taking another runner-spot in the CSIO5* Longines Grand Prix of Rotterdam in June.

We could go and do our own thing, and we kind of kept taking two steps forward and then maybe a step back – and that was okay. 

“I think it was really good that we were able to take him back to New Zealand,” Luke says about the process of producing Gangster. “When I tried him as a six-year-old, he had a huge amount of raw talent. He was careful, scopey and brave, but he was very sensitive. He was quite a hot horse and could get quite strong. Luckily, as we were back in New Zealand, there wasn't much pressure that maybe a younger horse of his calibre might have had over in Europe. We could go and do our own thing, and we kind of kept taking two steps forward and then maybe a step back – and that was okay. We had the time to produce him back there. We always knew we had a couple of years up our sleeves before we wanted to come back to Europe. I think that was the key for him; he got to be a horse, and we were able to take our time with him.”

Since December, Luke has been based at the Travers Horse Facility in the Netherlands with Nick Skelton and Laura Kraut. “It’s been fantastic,” he tells. “When we arrived, Nick and Laura had just gone to America, so Laura arranged for me to train with Emile Hendrix in their absence. They’ve been a good trio of mentors that I've had.”

“Emile was hugely instrumental in the early part of our arrival to Travers,” Luke continues.  “He understood Gangster as a horse, me as a rider and understood Gangster and I as a combination from the start without having too much difficulty. Once Nick and Laura arrived back, they've been helping me. Obviously, their resumes are extremely extensive, and I feel very fortunate and lucky to be in a stable like theirs and have the trio of mentors that I have between Nick, Laura and Emile.”

Any noise in the background, you wouldn't even know about because they take care of it; grooms are invaluable.

“My groom Shawna is an employee of Laura's, and she looks after Gangster and the other horses that I ride for Laura, and she's been brilliant,” Luke continues to tell about his support team. “I think grooms are an extremely important part of your team, and although I don't have many horses, the reliance on a top groom like Shawna is certainly key to getting good results. They take a lot of pressure off, they take the stress out of things during day-to-day stuff, so that I can just focus on riding. Any noise in the background, you wouldn't even know about because they take care of it; grooms are invaluable.”

“My biggest supporter, fiancé Amelia, has very rarely been away from Europe over the last 18 month’s. Us along with Gangsters co-owner, Fiona, are very lucky to be creating some special memories.”

“I currently have a small team of horses with Gangster being my top horse,” “Additionally, I ride two horses of Nick and Laura's; I've got a seven-year-old and an eight-year-old. They're both very nice horses.”

“I would absolutely love to have a big string of horses,” Luke points out. “At the moment, I'm working on being able to be based here more permanently and getting more owners and more horses. First and foremost, having a bigger string of horses would take a lot of pressure off the one top horse I have. Obviously, you need ranking points to get into shows and having one horse, you can't really use them all the time. However, that's just been the reality of my situation since being here.”

I would absolutely love to have a big string of horses

“I've been lucky to have one very good horse, and each time he has gone into the ring, he has performed and slowly we've climbed up the ranks,” Luke concludes. “We've been very fortunate for the opportunities that have come our way and luckily we have been able to turn them into results. It hasn't been easy, getting into shows. We are grateful to have had a lot of good people trying to help us. Hopefully things will get easier from now on.”

22.7.2026 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.