WCYH Medallist Lightning Star RR Sold to France

Dressage

France

Lightning Star RR, the double bronze medal winner at the World Young Horse Championships, has been sold and moved to France. She is intended as a 2028 Los Angeles Olympic hopeful for Anne Sophie Serre.

Lightning Star RR is a 7-year old Dutch warmblood mare by Ferguson out of Daily Enjoy (by De Niro x ) . She is bred by Indonesian Titan Wilaras.

Kirsten Brouwer

The liver chestnut mare was produced to FEI level by Dutch Kirsten Brouwer, who initially rode and managed the stable of breeder Wilaras.

When the two split, Lightning Star RR moved along with Brouwer and a half ownership share sold to Rosanne and Robert van Stuivenberg.

In 2020 the mare scored 86 points in the KWPN Ibop Mare Performance test.

Lightning Star at the 2021 WCYH in Verden

The pair first made headlines in 2021 when they earned bronze with 92.80 points at the World Young Horse Championships in Verden, followed by placing second in the 2021 Pavo Cup Finals.

In 2022 they returned to the World Young Horse Championships but there was more tension in the mare for the 6-year old task and they ended up 8th in the Finals with 84.60 points. Two weeks later they won the 2022 Pavo Cup Finals at the same venue.

In 2023 the duo travelled to Ermelo for the 7-year old World Young Horse Championships and were back on form and finished again with the bronze medal after scoring 81.779%. They also won the ZZ-Zwaar (M**) title at the 2023 Dutch Dressage Championships.

Sold to France

Lightning Star has now been sold to Francoise Niclaus, a long-time sponsor of the Serre family, after she initially had a horse with Belgian Grand Prix rider Françoise Hologne-Joux.

Brouwer stated on social media that the mare sold "as potential for the games of Los Angeles 2028! We had so many beautiful moments together, and she was my best friend. We couldn’t wish for a better place because of the love for horses and the way of training matches ours. She played with the big work so for sure they will have a great future together."

Anne-Sophie Serre told French website Dressprod, "Françoise expressed her wish to buy a fourth horse for a while and we have been looking for several months for this rare jewel. Lilly is adorable, well raised and trained in a system similar to ours as the Brouwers also work as a family. Lilly is a quality mare, very established in the Prix St Georges movements and she has started with the Grand Prix work like the one tempi changes."

The Belgian Francoise Niclaus also owns French team horse James Bond de Massa, Alcazar de Massa, and Orient Express de Massa who are all in training with the Serre family.