Where Are They Now? Casablanca

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F.O.C.U.S.

Casablanca, the highly talked about Hanoverian mare that placed fourth at the 2017 World Championships for Young Dressage Horse under Simone Pearce, sold to Poland after Ermelo as a major Grand Prix hopeful due to her fantastic gaits. Owner Mateusz Cichon returned to Ermelo in 2018 but then Casablanca disappeared from the show scene, only to pop up once more..

Where is she now?

Westendarp and Helgstrand

Casablanca is a 2012 born Hanoverian mare by Conen out of Flair (by Fidertanz x Weltmeyer x Bolero). She is bred by Johannes and Ines Westendarp at their yard in Wallenhorst, Germany.

Casablanca is the maternal half sister to Four Seasons, a 2011 born Furstenball x Fidertanz mare, which put daughter Alexa Westendarp on the German team for the 2022 European Under 25 Championships. The mare's last show was in April 2023. Flair also produced Vancouver (by Van Vivaldi), now in the USA with Kendall Cox, and Bellevue (by Bordeaux) competing at small tour level with Philly Roberts-Giesselmann.

The bay mare is one of few offspring by the stallion Conen (by Chequille x Landclassic), who was gelded in 2014 after a colic attack. Conen was trained and presented by Westendarp at the 2010 Hanoverian stallion licensing so Johannes had close contact with the stallion and bred him to his mare Flair in 2011. Casablanca was born in 2012.

Florabella with a 2023 born colt by Total Hope

When Westendarp presented and sold Don Deluxe to Andreas Helgstrand the week of the 2013 Oldenburg Stallion Licensing (auction hammer price 910,000 euro), a connection was made between Hof Westendarp and Helgstrand. The Danish horse dealer, who was at the start of building his empire, secured Casablanca as a 3-year old in 2015. Her first foal, a filly born in 2015 named Florabella (by Furstenball), stayed in Wallenhorst.

"Florabella became one of our best broodmares," Ines Westendarp told Eurodressage. She produced Dijon (by Don Deluxe) who is in training with Philly Giesselmann and Versailles (by Valverde), who is with Alexandra Sessler.

Danish Start

The mare moved to Denmark and Helgstrand sold full ownership almost immediately to then business partner Bolette Wandt, even though on paper Andreas remained credited as co-owner.

"It was definitely love at first sight, it really impressed me how she was able to move that BIG body so gracefully," Bolette told Eurodressage. "I saw her the first time at Helgstrand Dressage where Andreas also thought she would fit well with the breeding and sports program we had in the pipeline - and boy she did."

The mare was first competed by Emma Ahlberg.

She debuted the 4-year old in June 2016 and won the qualifier for the Danish young horse championships with 86.8%. The pair went to the semi-finals in September and finished sixth with 87.8%. At the 2016 Danish Young Horse Championships they were 9th in the 4-year old finals with a score of 8.060 points.

"She just has something very special," said Wandt. "She is so kind and so willing to perform she actually reminds me a bit of Wendy de Fontaine - horses with a big heart."

WCYH Fourth

In 2017 Australian Simone Pearce took over the ride.

"The first time I sat on her I thought, 'wow she's big,'" Pearce told Eurodressage laughing. "The trot was absolutely incredible. Just a wow feeling, but the walk needed a little bit of work so that was something we really focused on and got a lot better. In the end she just gave the best feeling."

She premiered the mare a national show in June 2017 to finish fourth. The national score qualified Pearce to represent Australia at the 2017 World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo. The mare became the talk of the town in the preliminary round, in which she finished third with 9.16 points. In the Finals round she dropped off the podium and landed fourth place with 9.0.

"The experience of just missing the podium was really heart-breaking," said Simone. "It was my fault missing the transition from canter to walk. It was devastating. But the overall experience of having had her there and having such an amazing show with her. She's probably my favourite horse I ever had the chance to ride."

Bolette confirmed this. "Casablanca ticked the boxes. She is just amazing - a giant, elegant beauty that teamed up with Simone Pierce - and what a team," said Bolette. "I think to this day it’s also one of Simone’s all time favorites and we often talk about the time we had with Casablanca. and I’m sure the same goes for Ines and Johannes."

During her time in ownership of Bolette's company, Chateau de Fontaine, Casablanca produced two foals, which become important mares in her breeding programme.

"She has definitely produced some of the best offspring we have at Chateau de Fontaine," said Bolette. "She bred an extraordinary mare Galarina de Fontaine (by Grand Galaxy Win) who was sold to Denmark (editor's note: now with Sofie Lexner at Christinelund in Sweden), and another amazing mare Fiorina de Fontaine (bu Franklin). We have big expectations for her. She is still here with us at Château de Fontaine and has an amazing offspring already, the 3-year old Bayeux de Fontaine (by Bonjour) who will be broken in this spring."

Sold to Poland

Casablanca's appearance at the World YH Championships caused such a buzz that Helgstrand client Mateusz Cichon bought her as a Paris Olympic hopeful. Casablanca moved to Poland and in 2019 co-incidentally Westendarp's stallion Don Deluxe also ended up at Cichon Dressage.

One month after Ermelo Mateusz and Casablanca won the 2017 Polish Young Horse Championships with 9.06 and 9.26 points. In 2018 he took her to the World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo, but could not make it into the finals for 6-year olds. They stranded in an 11th place in the consolation class with 75.80 points. Mateusz continued to compete her nationally in Poland until June 2019

Where Is She Now?

Casablanca disappeared from the international show scene for three years, only to make a brief come back in June 2021 at small tour level at the CDI Samorin in Slovakia, where they were 6th in the Prix St Georges (67.059%) and 8th in the Intermediaire I (64.804%)

In the Prix St Georges in Poland last summer
(Photo © Wiktoria Roznowska)

Since Samorin, Casablanca has not returned to the international arena, but after a three-year break resurfaced in July 2024 at a home show in Radzionkow to score 68.377%. a week later she showed again at the CDN Kaleń-Towarzystwo to finish fourth with 66.202% in the Prix St Georges. This was her last show so far.

Eurodressage tuned in with Mateusz about his mare.

"We've not been too lucky with her health," Mateusz told Eurodressage. "She got injured some years ago and it took a while to get her back in shape. It was nothing serious at the beginning, just some tendon problem, but as she is really a huge horse and with this outstanding trot, it was very difficult to get her back to work after the break and there were all time some minor things in between. Now she is already one year quite steady at work, so I hope we are done with all the trouble and can still have some nice sport experience together."

Mateusz and Casablanca (Photo © Wiktoria Roznowska)

Mateusz added that she is almost Grand Prix ready. While the mare was recovering from injury, she has been bred. "We managed to do ICSI and have 2 frozen embryos by Vitalis from her," said Mateusz, adding they these embryos are not yet implanted but in storage.

Mateusz is excited about his future with Casablanca. "Now she is in quite a good shape. We did some small shows last year to come back on track and hope to make a full programme in 2025."