King Karim Sold to Italian Junior Rider

Dressage

Italy

The licensed KWPN stallion King Karim has been sold to Italy, where he will continue a career in sport with an Italian youth rider.

King Karim is an 11-year old KWPN stallion by Toto Jr out of Blexta (by Painted Black x Flemmingh). He is bred by K. Kiestra in Blokzijl, The Netherlands.

Sanavio and Minderhoud

The chestnut stallion was first owned by " Ednihap BV," a company behind Edward Gal, Nicole Werner, and Hans Peter Minderhoud.

He was licensed at the 2018 KWPN Stallion Licensing and did the spring performance test that same year, scoring 83 points. He initially stood up for stud through Team Nijhof and Glock, but has only bred little. There are 48 offspring in total registered with the KWPN, one of them became a licensed son (Royal King) and one is an elite daughter.

King Karim was only lightly shown as a youngster. In 2019 Italian Riccardo Sanavio worked as an assistant rider for Gal/Minderhoud and with him the stallion finished 11th in the Pavo Cup Finals with 83,6 and 80,4 points. In the winter of 2019-2020 he won the KWPN Stallion Competition Finals under Hans Peter Minderhoud. In 2021 the pair was entered but did not show up for the 2021 KWPN Suitability Test as a replacement for the Stallion Competition finals.

King Karim disappeared from the spotlight and in August 2024 it was announced that stallion keepers Brouwer and Van Uytert invested in the chestnut as their "2028 L.A. Olympic hopeful."

Italy

King Karim has now resurfaced in Italy. According to Tutto Dressage the stallion moved to Italy in April 2025 into the barn of Andrea Giovannini. In December 2025 the horse, however, transferred to Italian junior rider Alessandro Bonaglio.

The 16-year old Bonaglio has been competing internationally since 2023, representing Italy at the 2023 European Pony Championships with HB Daily Sunshine (by Daily Pleasure x Pentagon). In 2024 he moved to junior level with the Latvian bred Grindeks (by Gvidons x Kaptein Premium) and represented Italy a second time at the 2025 European Junior Riders Championships in Le Mans.

King Karim is his new iron in the fire.

"With King Karim my plans and goals are mainly focused on getting to know each other and slowly becoming a pair, and hopefully try some competitions in small tour," Alessandro told Eurodressager. A student of Lorenzo Piazzalunga and Tiziana Villa and with monthly touch-ups from Laura Conz, Bonaglio hopes to compete "in the U25 category in a few years. This are our plan for now."