The VIP in the indoor hall was packed on Saturday evening, 2 August, with professionals who know how to judge a young horse. The auction horses had already impressed with their auction videos, but had to live up to it during the free-jumping show. They did and some jumped even better, but the favourites were already marked in the booklets.
Spotted on Instagram
‘I saw Cooney popping up on Instagram and absolutely loved it,’ says Amelia Clark, friend of New Zealander Luke Dee. Meanwhile, he had horse owner Fiona Hall on the phone, with whom he bought the light-footed gelding that jumps with a lot of reflexes and scope. “With a view to the future. It is the first time we have bought in an auction,” the enthusiastic blonde says. She says Fiona Hall is also the owner of nine-year-old Gangster WW (Grandslam VDL), bought from Cian O’Connor, with whom Luke competed for the first time in the World Cup final in Basel earlier this year.
Average 24,300 euros
The three- and four-year-old auction horses were sold worldwide for an average price of 24,300 euros. The second most expensive at 55,000 euro was the fantastic jumping grey mare Emily van Schuttershof (Emerald x Kashmir Van Schuttershof), who will move to Ireland. Over the phone there was a winning bid of €46,000 from the Middle East for Tsarina Z (Taran de la Pomme), a talented granddaughter of the Olympic mare H&M Butterfly Flip.
With 34,000 euros, Bandaroen vd Holsteinerhoeve (Balou du Reventon x Quantum) followed. Knocked off for 32,000 euros were Candice H (Chacoon Blue x Singulord Joter) and Arianne LVP Z (Aganix du Seigneur x Clearway). Catcher (Cornet Obolensky x Cassini I) came in at 30,000 euros.