2 Jun 2025

Olympic mare and 35 foals in Flanders Foal Auction

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The Flanders Foal Auction season includes five auctions featuring foals, and the first one of the year kicks off with an unique opportunity. For the first time, an Olympic mare will be auctioned on Saturday, June 14, immediately followed by her filly. The excitement continues with foals out of top mares like Azur HH (ridden by McLain Ward) and a full brother of the very successful Toulayna (ridden by Kent Farrington).
  • The year 2024 was unprecedented for the auction house, with a sales rate of 96.5% and an average foal price of €24,705. “This success has led to an even greater supply of exceptional foals, allowing us to raise the bar even higher, and it was already set very high,” say organizers Luk Van Puymbroeck and Gerald Lenaerts.
  • Wet filming day
  • “Selecting the first collection of the year is always the most challenging,” Gerald Lenaerts reveals. “Some foals are still very young on filming day, but their outstanding pedigree made us eager to include them. Unfortunately, filming took place on a cold and wet day, but we’re confident they’ll shine on auction day.”
  • Top mare Ornellaia
  • The auction at Sentower Park will open with a broodmare, Ornellaia (For Pleasure x Calato), who competed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games with John Whitaker and jumped at the highest level for nearly a decade. “She’s now at our barn with her first foal, preparing for the auction. You’d buy her on character alone. This mare is sweet, intelligent, easy-going and grateful. She also adores her beautiful, blood-typed filly by Connor, which we are fortunate to include in the auction as well,” says Lenaerts.
  • To complete the picture, Ornellaia boasts an exceptional pedigree. She is a half-sister to Zera VI (1.60m Grand Prix and winner of the Hamburg Derby), aunt to Echo of Light (1.60m Grand Prix), and granddaughter of Fein Cera, Peter Wylde’s Olympic team gold medalist in Athens. Her great-granddam Cera won Nations Cups in Aachen and Rotterdam with Otto Becker.
  • From 22 different stallions
  • The 35 jumping foals descend from 22 different sires, making the collection impressively diverse. Chacco Blue leads the way with four foals, followed by Comme il Faut, Cornet Obolensky, and United Touch with three each. Ermitage Kalone and Emerald will be represented by two foals each.
  • The damlines once again confirm the Flanders Foal Auction’s high-quality standards:
  • 9 foals are directly out of mares that competed at 1.50m to 1.70m Grand Prix level;
  • 9 granddams jumped at 1.50m–1.60m level or higher;
  • 10 dams have already produced Grand Prix horses at 1.50m level or above;
  • 32 of the 35 foals have a granddam that gave one or more Grand Prix horses.
  • The full collection is available online at www.flandersfoalauction.be.