A foal auction that sells 100% of its collection is relatively rare but Flanders Foal Auction did it on Saturday-night 17 June. In the first foal auction of the year at Sentower Park the guests welcomed the groupe of foals with open arms. As many as 24 of the 30 were sold on the spot, the other six online. Going for 52,000 euro Tokio VDH (Balou du Reventon x Denzel van ’t Meulenhof) was the best sold foal.
Remarkable is that Tokio VDH had already been auctioned by Flanders Foal Auction before, namely as an embryo at the first embryo auction at Il Borro in Italy last year. The Dutchman Barry van der Haar claimed the embryo, saw the foal born in good health at his place ad now earned the first prize. Not entirely unexpected for a filly bred out of the full sister of Nixon van ’t Meulenhof (1.60m Grand Prix) and the half-sister of Emerald van ’t Ruytershof (1.60m Grand Prix).
Belgium keeps top-class mares
Tokio VDH is bought to reinforce an ambitious studfarm in Belgium. The same also bought Camille van de Berghoeve (Chacco Blue x For Pleasure) for 48,000 euro, Etoile Filante d’Argilla Z (Emerald x Nabab de Reve) for 36,000 euro and Caluka van de Berghoeve (Cornet du Lys x Carthago) for 32,000 euro. Judging by their pedigrees these are interesting investments. Camille’s dam jumped 1.55m Grand Prix and grandam Liscalgot won the World Equestrian Games under Dermot Lennon. Etoile’s dam is jumping at 1.40m level and is a daughter of Zuckersuess d’Argilla (1.60m Grand Prix). Caluka is out of the well-breeding Baluka Hero and also has a grandam once active at 1.60m level, namely Ulika.
Average 24,300 euro
With an average price of 24,300 euro and a turnover of 729,000 euro Flanders Foal Auction broke a personal record. “Never before did we score such results in a first auction of the season. The buying public was very powerful and we saw that many foals were bought by our regular clients.”
A Swiss buyer, for example, bought as many as six and has them reared and trained in his stables in Germany. These include the rough stunning Diamond Frost Axelhoeve Z (Dominator Z x Aganix du Seigneur) for 36,000 euro and the gorgeous colt Togo (Comme il Faut x Diamant de Semilly) for 30,000 euro. “The oldest foals we bought at Flanders are now 5- and 6-yr-olds and are performing in the sport very well. That’s why we like to keep buying here. We were again impressed by the quality of the foals and their pedigrees”, says the stable’s manager. Noteworthy detail is that as many as 14 foals will move to Germany (47% of the collection).
Shopping Grand Prix riders
For 40,000 euro Beauty Z (Balou du Reventon x E-Star), granddaughter of Larthago, was sold to France. A Brazilian bid 36,000 euro for Castanea van WW (Chacco Blue x For Pleasure). Several foals were bought by Grand Prix showjumping riders.
“We are truly enormously pleased about the way the auction went, the support and confidence shown by everyone here at Sentower Park. We displayed a good collection this time, but we still have many
special ones for the auctions in July”, so Luk Van Puymbroeck and Gerald Lenaerts reveal.
New is the Flanders Foal Auction to be held during the Equestrian Cup (the new CSI4* show in Moerzeke) on 22 July, after which, on 29 July, the team will auction for the second time at the stables
from Holger Hetzel in Goch, Germany. This will happen during the ‘Tiemeyer x Hetzel Young Horse Masters’, an open championship for young showjumping horses.