Enormous sales increase in Sale of the Rising Stars

The fifth edition of the Sale of the Rising Stars, the auction of young showjumping horses at ICNN Drachten, closed after record sales.

Where the horses had gone for an average price of 29,000 euro last year, on this Saturday night the average price went up to almost 62,400 euro. The 5-yr-old showjumping horse Floyd O (Carthino Z x Ferro), which had been much discussed, became the topper that went for 160,000 euro to Ireland.

Teus van den Brink, selector of the horses, attributes the explosive growth of the prices to the very high quality of the horses which filled this year’s auction collection. “We had several really phenomenal horses on offer and they are in good demand. This was really a very good auction. Also thanks to the people who have so much confidence in us that they dare to buy horses without having tried them out.”

The world-wide successes of the horses earlier sold through the Sale of the Rising Stars have certainly contributed to this conficende. For example, Castlefield’s Denver (by Quasimodo Z) auctioned in 2013 became the reserve World Champion of the 5-yr-old showjumping horses under Bertram Allen, after which he was sold to the Irish lady rider Peig van Amerongen, who this time bought the most expensive horse. Van Amerongen and her good friend Katie Moffit together bought the impressively jumping Floyd O for which they had especially travelled to the auction in Drachten.

Another eye catcher was the 5-yr-old Frederiks (Carambole x Up to Date), who went to Switzerland for 125,000 euro. “I have known the new owner, Tina Pol, for twenty years but never had done any business with her before. I always run into her a couple of times at a show and this time she was in Drachten because her rider was performing there. The fact that it took place at the same time as the international jumping also made the auction interesting. Most horses were sold to new clients”, Teus van den Brink explains.

Studfarm Sterrehof, Marc Houtzager and Julia Kayser spent 90,000 euro on the very light-footed jumping mare Flow (Sam R x Epilot). Also for 90,000 euro the spectacular grey L-Game Boy Z (Last Man Standing x Ircolando) left for the USA there to perform in hunter classes. Irish investors bought Fleetwood W (Vigo d’Arsouilles x Calvin Z) for 85,000 euro.

In total the thirteen auction horses sold for 811,000 euro. “That was really fantastic, but not least because a lot of work was put in for their selection. It occupied me for seven days a week and I visited shows every weekend. There you are standing along the ringside from early morning till late in the evening and twenty times you come home with nothing. Or you just have bad luck. But that is all part of the job and I really like to do it. On the evening of the auction I get powerfully motivated to find such a top-class collection again next year.”