Eye Catcher Stays in the U.S.A. with New Owner

Dressage

U.S.A

Eye Catcher, a WCYH bronze medal winner and internationally competed Grand Prix horse, has sold to an American dressage rider.

Eye Catcher is a 15-year old Dutch warmblood by Vivaldi out of Ostrona (by Partout x Dublin). He is bred by G. Snoeks

Titan Wilaras

Eye Catcher was presented at the 2012 KWPN stallion licensing by a syndicate of owners including the breeder, Joop van Uytert and Indonesian entrepreneur Titan Wilaras. He was accepted at licensing and completed the 2012 KWPN Spring Stallion Performance Test with 86 points.

The stallion moved into training with Kirsten Brouwer, who managed Wilaras' Platinum stable in Riel, The Netherlands. Titan also became sole owner of the horse in 2016.

Under Brouwer the stallion won the 2014 Pavo Cup Finals and double bronze at the 2014 and 2015 World Young Horse Championships in Verden.

Brouwer left Platinum stables with slamming doors and Spaniard Antonio Laiz Zandio took over the ride. In 2018 he competed Eye Catcher at international small tour level and won the 2018 Spanish Small Tour Championships.

Sold to Helgstrand

Wilaras' Platinum project crumbled in The Netherlands and the entire horse stock was sold in two blow-out sales. Andreas Helgstrand scooped up WCYH medallists Eye Catcher and Five Star in the early spring of 2019 while Rom Vermunt and Harald Bruinier bought the rest of the stock. The yard sold in 2021 to Finnish Joanna Robinson.

Emma Kanerva

It took Helgstrand no time to flip Eye Catcher to another buyer, German Gerd Saborowski for Emma Kanerva to ride.

Emma made her show debut on Eye Catcher at the Louisdor Cup qualifier in Elmlohe in August 2019 and also rode the qualifier at the CDI Oldenburg in October that year.

In 2020 the horse disappeared from the competition scene. The stallion was sent back to Denmark to be resold. There he was initially trained by Spanish Severo Jurado Lopez, before the rider left Helgstrand to go independent.

A conclusive sale did not happen and in the end, Eye Catcher returned to Germany to be re-united with Emma. She continued to show him at national Grand Prix level in the spring and summer of 2022.

Meanwhile Saborowski listed the horse for sale on eHorses, an online sales platform where mostly amateur or hobby horses are being sold, for 1.4 million euro.

Helgstrand Again

Saborowksi's eHorses strategy did not work and Eye Catcher was sent back to Denmark for Helgstrand to make another attempt at selling this horse.

Under Alexander Yde Helgstrand he first showed at a regional show on home turf in Vodskov in an Intermediaire II and scored 70.526%. This was on 11 November 2023.

The horse was flown to Wellington, Florida, to be sold and in the meantime Alexander competed him in the U25 classes at the Global Dressage Festival. The pair was entered for two CDI's. He withdrew in the first and placed third and second in the February one with scores of 66.059% (Inter II) and 64.769% (U25 GP).

American Owner

Eye Catcher did not make the trip back to Europe. On 1 April U.S. Grand Prix rider Elizabeth Armstrong put her name as owner on Eye Catcher's FEI passport and a month later she announced on social media that the chestnut had joined her barn.

"We welcome our very special new handsome guy to our stable," said the 69-year old dressage rider. "Very excited for this partnership. He is pretty darn perfect."

Originally from Montreal, Armstrong studied architecture in Boston, U.S.A., and built a life and business there. Her international show career began in 2012 with Parsifal, after which Cardeur, Donamira and Gallardo V followed. Armstrong spends her winters in Wellington.