The 3rd Elite Foal Auction was a true French Foal Folly. Customers from Brittany, France purchased 11 foals all in all, including the most expensive foal, Raddisson, an Oldenburg colt (sire: Rubin Royal, dam's sire: Don Schufro), bred by Paul Kreienborg in Vechta, who sold for 40,000 Euro.
The auction in Vechta ended with the finest results: 44 Oldenburg foals were sold for a total of 465,200 Euro (average price 10,572 Euro), 16 of which were sold abroad. The 13 Springpferdezuchtverband Oldenburg-International (OS) foals were sold for a total of 98,500 Euro (average price 7,576 Euro). Five of the OS foals were sold abroad.
The highest priced filly named Spitzenklasse (by Sandro Hit – Contender, bred by Alfons and Birgit Rolfes in Garrel) was sold to France for 30,000 Euro. Don Alberti (by Don Romantic-Alabaster, bred by Ingrid Bergmann in Vechta) was also sold for 30,000 Euro to the Danish Gestüt Blue Hors. Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff, World Championin dressage, purchased Flower Power (by Florencio-Pinkus, bred by Johannes Veenhuis in Wiesmoor) for 20,000 Euro. A colt named Quit (by Quidam's Rubin-Carthago Z, bred by Stall Wacholderheide in Himbergen) found a new home in Thüringen for 23,000 Euro.
The most expensive OS foal, a Carry Gold son named Charming Ideal (dam by Lacros, bred by Helga Hahne in Bad Oeynhausen) was purchased by the Haase family in Fischerhude for 14,000 Duro. Customers from Florence, Italy took Accordius (by Acorado-Argentinus), bred by M. and B. Langelueddecke in Kl. Vahlberg), home for 10,000 Euro.
Auctioneer Uwe Heckmann was extremely pleased with the results of the auction: "563,700 Euro in total sales for the Oldenburg and OS foals is an enormous success." The President of the Oldenburg Verband, Wilhelm Weerda, agreed with him and emphasized the number of new customers from countries such as Sweden, Italy, Denmark and Luxemburg, who once again underline the international reputation of the Vechta auctions.
Trade was also lively at the 12 th Oldenburg Foal Market where more than 300 foals from the Oldenburg Verband and Springpferdezuchtverband Oldenburg-International and, for the very first time, riding ponies from the Pferdestammbuch Weser-Ems, were offered in free treaty sales on August 21, 2004 at the Reiterwald Stadium in Vechta.