In a mind boggling move to reorganize its horse stock, since the departure of top rider Daniel Bachmann Andersen, the Danish Blue Hors stud has moved its top international Grand Prix horse Blue Hors Zepter to Helgstrand Dressage.
Blue Hors Zepter is a 13-year old Oldenburg gelding by Zack out of Who's Sunlight (by Wolkentanz II). The chestnut is bred in Germany by Bernhard Sieverding.
Bachmann's Future Star
The mega moving Zepter made its international show debut at small tour level in 2016 at the CDI Drachten under Bachmann. The horse move to Grand Prix in 2017 and as of 2018 has been gaining top seventy percentage scores at shows such as Uggerhalne, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt.
A minor injury sidelined Zepter for the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam, although he was already tipped as a Danish Grand Prix team candidate for the 2018 World Equestrian Games.
Bachmann and Zepter made their come back to the arena at the CDI Randboel in November 2019, where they scored 78.717% in the Grand Prix. At the 2020 CDI Herning they were immediately promoted to the 2020 Danish Olympic team candidates with another 78.745% Grand Prix Special score.
Uncertain Future
When Daniel Bachmann Andersen decided to quit his job as the number one rider at Blue Hors, the future of Zepter became uncertain as the very tall gelding would probably be too much horse for rider Agnete Kirk Thinggaard. Zepter was thought to become the new top mount for Blue Hors' team rider Nanna Skodborg Merrald, but instead the stallion station made a very surprising decision to move him to Andreas Helgstrand's sales yard.
The move reportedly happened already a few months ago and in since then Blue Hors has zip locked its lip on the future of their top Grand Prix horses Zepter, Zack as well as young star Zackerey.
The only information Blue hors sport director Ulrik Sorensen was willing to share was "Zepter is at Helgstrand Dressage and he will start the horse."
Also Andreas provided little clarity. He told Eurodressage, “We start him and then we see,” adding that the horse is still owned by Blue Hors.
Andreas has scheduled his show debut on the chestnut gelding for the national show in Vilhelmsborg in 27 August 2020. Whether Zepter will be Helgstrand's 2021 Tokyo Olympic hopeful alongside D'Avie and Fiontini, or just briefly ridden to be immediately sold is unclear. The mystery to the situation only feeds more speculations
Photo © Astrid Appels
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