DSHS_Magazine_2022
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van der Vleuten. By not cashing in on the<br />
mares but keeping them for breeding, Jack<br />
has not made an easy but -in retrospect- a<br />
very valuable investment. One mare, the<br />
Lector daughter Expo Graphic, is listed<br />
as the granddam of the most successful<br />
showjumper out of their breeding:<br />
the Grand Prix stallion Peppermill<br />
(s.Burggraaf), with whom John Whitaker<br />
won several Grand Prixs and medals at<br />
major championships. The other mare, the<br />
Voltaire daughter Especiale, won Grand<br />
Prix and World Cup qualifiers herself.<br />
After a very successful sports career in<br />
the 1990s under Eric van der Vleuten,<br />
she returned home in Swalmen to serve<br />
breeding. Jack and Lilian are now taking<br />
full advantage of this decision. “Especiale<br />
has brought us several daughters after<br />
her sports career and we have therefore<br />
been able to build up this damline. We<br />
had to invest a lot and because we got<br />
too many horses at one point, we started<br />
selling foals since 2009.” Jack and Lilian<br />
have already bred the international 1.50m<br />
showjumpers Extra Special (s.Andiamo),<br />
which was sold through the Limburg Foal<br />
Auction in 2009, Be Special (s.Chacco-<br />
Blue), Especiale Too (s.Ustinov) and Also<br />
Especial (s.Argentinus). Several foals<br />
from the last-mentioned mare have been<br />
sold at the Limburg Foal Auction. Until<br />
a few years ago, Jack ran the breeding<br />
business together with his sister Christien<br />
Delissen, who -just like him- was an<br />
avid horse enthusiast. Brother Jo has his<br />
own breeding lines and has already had<br />
successes with his foals at the Limburg<br />
Foal Auction as well.<br />
Breeding goals<br />
For next year Jack expects foals from,<br />
among others, Casallco, Emerald van 't<br />
Ruytershof and Cape Coral RBF Z. “Emile<br />
Hendrix has advised us to use Casallco<br />
and for the rest we always trust on our<br />
own feeling. We do not only opt for the<br />
big names, but also dare to use young<br />
stallions. The Especiale damline has<br />
proven itself over the years, and that’s<br />
why it’s easier to give a young stallion<br />
a chance. Although the sale of foals at<br />
the auctions is an annual goal for us, we<br />
are not guided by commercialism in our<br />
breeding choices. Our goal is to breed<br />
a good showjumper, but breeding real<br />
top jumping horses is only possible for<br />
few breeders. We have experienced great<br />
success with Peppermill and of course we<br />
hope to experience it again, but for that we<br />
depend on where our breeding products<br />
end up. Fortunately, a lot of our horses<br />
have ended up with good riders through<br />
the Limburg Foal Auction in recent years,<br />
so we are looking forward to the future.”<br />
Sport<br />
and breeding<br />
Jack Verstappen can be found at national<br />
and international competitions almost<br />
every weekend and that provides him<br />
with valuable insights for breeding. “You<br />
still see that many breeders don’t follow<br />
the sport closely. I am definitely not saying<br />
that I know how it works in breeding,<br />
but at least I try to breed horses<br />
that the sport asks for. At the<br />
competitions you see many<br />
horses, offspring of certain<br />
stallions and the stallions<br />
themselves. Besides that,<br />
it is very nice to see home<br />
bred horses at the shows<br />
and that also provides valuable<br />
information for our breeding.”<br />
Nowadays, Chacco-Blue is one of the<br />
most popular progenitors and it’s not<br />
a coincidence that Jack and Lilian<br />
have already used this stallion<br />
nine times years ago. Three<br />
of them now serve as<br />
breeding mares:<br />
Go On Especiale,<br />
It's Especiale and<br />
Limburg Foal Auction<br />
' We feel at home at the<br />
Limburg Foal Auction.'<br />
their personal favorite Double-Speciale.<br />
They are all in foal for 2023. “We already<br />
covered with Chacco-Blue in 2005 and<br />
I really followed my own feeling. Now<br />
years later, we are really happy with that<br />
decision. In breeding you have to have a<br />
lot of patience and take a lot of setbacks.<br />
It is our great passion but it involves also<br />
a lot of hard work. Actually, a human life<br />
is too short to build a good damline and<br />
we regret that we have no successors. But<br />
that's why we now enjoy the highlights to<br />
the fullest”. Whether the breeders will be<br />
there again next year at the Limburg Foal<br />
Auction? “That's definitely our goal!”<br />
DUTCHSPORTHORSESALES.COM<br />
<strong>DSHS</strong> | The <strong>2022</strong> edition<br />
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