Press Release – BRUSSELS: Dutchman Willem Greve had a textbook first jumping day at the Brussels Stephex Masters. The Olympic rider triumphed in the 1.50m class with Carambole and finished as the runner up in the 1.45m class with Highway TN. “Both stallions jumped amazing today, maybe I should just go home now, because I cannot see it getting much better than this,” the winner says about his results in the CSI5* classes.
Willem Greve and Carambole (photo credit – Sportfot)
In the top class of the day 30 horse-and-rider combinations took on the challenge of the 1.50m class against the clock designed by course builder Uliano Vezzani and his team. With four of the five highest ranked riders in the world in the mix the game was on.
Taking over the lead
As the fifth rider to go Lillie Keenan and her eager jumping stallion Agana van het Gerendal Z (by Aganix du Seigneur) set the time to beat in 61,59 seconds. The American top rider stayed in the lead for a while until it was Willem Greve’s turn. Making the task at hand seem easy with his seventeen-year-old stallion Carambole (by Cassini I) Greve took over the lead with over a second to spare scored the win.
Game time
“This was a super day with a perfect finish. For an opening 1.50m class this was a nice one in which the course designer left lots of decisions to the riders. Whether or not to turn tight or to leave a stride out made all the difference. With his experience it does not make sense to ride a nice schooling round with Carambole. I did not go crazy fast, but I did mean to be competitive and let my horse know that it is game time,” explains the winner.
‘He makes my life easy’
“Carambole is very clever, accelerates quickly, turns sharp and does not loose time over the obstacles by jumping meters too high. He makes my life easy, very easy indeed. And to add to an already fantastic day I am very much enjoying this show. Not just because of the good results, but the level of details, the atmosphere, the crowds give this event an extra dimension for sure.”
Eye on the prize
The only rider who came close to beating Greve’s time (+0,10) was Jérôme Guery. With Eras Ste Hermelle (by Vargas de Ste Hermelle) the Belgian Olympic bronze medalist had his eye on the prize but missed out by a fault in the double combination in the final line leaving, finishing in 13th place. With Keenan as the runner-up for the USA, Irish rider Bertram Allen took hold of the third place. Frenchman Edward Levy placed fourth and Belgiums Karel Cox ranked fifth.
Click here for all the results of visit www.stephexevents.com
Carambole was found by Jan Greve, the Dutch veterinarian and horse breeder, whose son Willem rides the stallion. Jan has discovered many many stallions, and there is usually a pretty good story that goes with them. Carambole is no exception:
“A friend, Gerardus Post who is a stallion owner in the north at the Ritta Hoeve, called me up and said, ‘I’ve seen in the 30 day test a nice horse by Coriano, we should go and look.’ We went on the Sunday morning and I didn’t like the horse… end of story. Do you have another one? Yeah I might have, it is with Burkhard Wahler, at his station to freeze semen. We called, yeah, you can come. It was a little bit of a round tour but okay still in northern Germany.”
“We went, and the horse stood there, normal good shape. Can I see him ridden? ‘There is no-one here,’ says Burkhard, ‘so I have to do it, but I haven’t been jumping for the last eight years, but I do it for you.’ So he put the saddle on, dressage saddle, made the stirrups a bit shorter, and jumped a cross pole, trotted up and the horse jumped fantastic. He jumped the cross pole in the same way he now jumps 1.60m. Then we made a vertical, maybe the biggest one was three feet, and a little square oxer, and always with style, and always quick. Okay that’s enough. Then we bought two thirds of him in the car on the way home. That’s how we found Carambole.”
As a breeding stallion, what do you think he brings to his progeny?
“He gives a very good brain, very quick, the reflexes on him are quick from the ground, which I think is the important thing for a good showjumper. He jumps very quickly from the ground, you can hardly see how he comes up. When you go in the jump off, you never have to think of the first pole, if the rider has to think of the first pole, he’s lost already. They like to jump, they are rideable, like himself.”
At the 2015 KWPN stallion licensing – by Carambole out of a Stakkato mare
Are there any particular mares he works best with?
“I think he should have a little bit of blood in the mother line, otherwise sometimes the Contender comes back and you get a bit of an old fashioned type, but even if you have an old fashioned type by him, they are quick in the body, modern in the mind, they are not slow thinkers. Intelligent – that’s important, to be athletic and intelligent, that’s what it is all about.”
Part of the Dutch team at the Euros
Willem Greve has ridden Carambole throughout his career, starting in Young Horse classes in 2010. In 2013, the pair was part of the winning Nations Cup team at Copenhagen, and represented Holland at the European Championships. Carambole celebrated the 2015 season in great style, winning back-to-back Grand Prix in Drachten and Amsterdam… The pair had a solid start to 2016, with two placings a Braunschweig, 2nd in the Grand Prix and 3rd in the 1.50, before going on to place third in the five-star Grand Prix at s’Hertogenbosch in an absolutely top class field. In March 2016, Carambole was 3rd in the Rolex Grand Prix in Rotterdam.
In September of 2020, Carambole was 4th in the five-star Grand Prix at Valkenswaard.
He started 2021 well at the ill-fated competition in Vejer de la Frontera, with a 4th place in a 1.50 before the outbreak of equine herpes shut down the competition. All told, Carambole has won €503,646 so far.
Carambole is listed on the hippomundo rankings (April 9, 2021) with one 1.65 competitor, Hello Senator, who has won €441,184, a further nine have jumped 1.60, three at 1.55, and five at 1.50.
Want to find out more about Jan Greve and his breeding philosophy – and meet some of the great stallions he has stood – go here https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2018/02/breeding-philosophy-with-jan-greve/