Vincent van Gasselt's Delacroix Sold to Jill Irving

Dressage

Canada

Canadian Grand Prix rider Jill Irving has secured herself a new hopeful for the 2022 World Championships in Herning, Vincent van Gasselt's Delacroix.

Delacroix is an 11-year old Hanoverian gelding by Dancier out of Donna Lion (by Don Crusador x Lindberg). He is bred by Jens Hagemann in Germany

Klosterhof Medingen

Scouted by Klosterhof Medingen's owner Burkhard Wahler as a youngster, Delacroix was licensed, but gelded to be focused on sport.

The horse did his first show in a local riding horse test in Tostedt ith Theresa Wahler in July 2014. He was meant to be sold at the 2014 Klosterhof Medingen auction and listed in the 2014 catalog, but ended up staying at the yard in Bad Bevensen.

In 2015 he was competed by Belgian Bart Desender, who worked as an assistant rider at Klosterhof Medingen. He rode him at three local shows at L-dressage horse level.

A year later Dutch horse owner Vera Verwelius spotted Delacroix in the 2015 Klosterhof Medingen auction collection. Van Gasselt tried out the horse and it was love at first. Verwelius purchased him for 80,000 euro.

Vincent van Gasselt

The gelding was trained to Grand Prix level by Vincent van Gasselt, a former student of Coby van Baalen.

The pair became the Dutch break-out stars of 2020, when they finished fifth in the 2020 Dutch Senior Grand Prix Championships, ahead of Olympic silver medalist and European Champion Adelinde Cornelissen as well as Dutch team rider Madeleine Witte-Vrees. They were considered the ones to watch for 2021 Dutch Olympic team selection, but in the end got overtaken by another break-out rider, Dinja van Liere, on her two horses Haute Couture and Hermes.

Irving and Degas at the 2019 CDI Wellington

Van Gasselt and Delacroix had a busy 2021 show season, competing in Opglabbeek, Exloo, Herzlake, Zandhoven, Aachen and Herning. Their Grand Prix test scores ranged between 68 and 71%.

Sold to Canada

Horses.nl posted that Delacroix has been sold to Canadian Jill Irving.

Based in Moncton (CAN), the 58-year old Irving represented Canada at the 2018 World Equestrian Games and 2019 Pan American Games aboard another Hanoverian named after a French painter, Degas (by De Niro). They won team gold at the Pan Ams and placed third in the Grand Prix Special.

Irving trains with Ashley Holzer and spends her winters in Wellington, Florida.