2026 Danish Young Dressage Horse Championships in Herning: Furious, Global Amour, Dizzy, and Divya Take Gold

Four-Year-Olds: Three Wins for Furious

The best of a total of 21 pairs competing in the four-year-old final (out of an original 38) was the Westphalian stallion Furious by Fair Deal-De Niro. He was bred by Enrico Schöbel, who also bred, among others, the Louisdor Prize winner DSP Sheldon Cooper. Alexander Yde Helgstrand presented Furious for Helgstrand Dressage and scored 96.857 points with him. The black-bay horse received the top score of 10.0 three times: he earned a 10.0 for trot, prospect, and the newly introduced sub-score “harmony.” His walk was rated 8.5, his canter 9.5, and his rideability 9.8.

The silver medal, with 95 points, went to Frederikke Gram Jacobsen, a rider for Anna Toosbuy Rasch (née Kasprzak), and Alanis F by Secret out of a Skovens Rafael dam. This medal is likely to hold a special place in Olympic rider Anna Toosbuy Rasch’s trophy case. She bred the mare herself. Here, the score was exactly 95 percent, with a 10 in the “harmony” category.

The bronze medal went once again to the Helgstrand stable, to Mette Sejbjerg Jensen and the Hanoverian gelding Fair Game (dam by Escolar, breeder: Ingo Könemann), who is also a descendant of the Franklin son Fair Deal. If the name sounds familiar—Fair Game had already caused a stir in the Bundeschampionat final. In Herning, he scored 94.85 percent.

Five-Year-Olds: From Third Place to Gold

The new champion of the five-year-olds is no stranger to come-from-behind victories. Already at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses, Alexander Yde Helgstrand and the Oldenburg stallion Global Amour by GlobalPlayer-Fürstenball (breeder: Britta Budeus-Wiegert) had already managed to improve their position by two places in the final of the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses compared to the qualifiers, moving up from fourth place to take silver. They achieved the same feat in Herning at the “Danish Championships,” only this time they went from third place all the way to the top. With a score of exactly 95 percent, the pair secured the title.

The winners of the preliminary round, Katrine Kraglund and Hamilton’s Jazzmaster by Jameson RS2, fell back to fourth place. This also cleared the way for another pair from the Helgstrand stable: Mette Seijbjerg Jensen riding the KWPN gelding Release Taonga by My Vitality, out of the U21 European Champion Jatilinda by All at Once—who also produced World Championship finalist Obsession Taonga. The pair had placed only sixth in the qualifier. In the final, they took silver with a score of 92 percent. They received a 10 for their trot but only a 7.5 for their walk.

The bronze medal, with 88 points, went to Liv Marie Stignæs and the Danish mare Svalegaards Dicte by De l’Or out of a De Noir dam. As her name suggests, the mare was born at the Svalegaard Stud.

Six-Year-Olds: Another World Championship Silver Medalist Takes the Lead

The title in the

six-year-old

division was claimed by

yet another

pair that had won silver at the

World Championships

in Verden: Helgstrand’s chestnut mare Hesselhøj Dizzy by Donkey Boy out of a Zack dam. She was once again ridden by Merita Hagren of Finland. With a score of 87 percent, she finished just ahead of the competition.

Second place was shared by two pairs, each with 86.429 percent, which is why there were two silver medals but no bronze. The first silver-medal horse was Selina Solberg Vittinghus’s Atterupgaards Daimi by Springbank II out of a Bon Bravour dam. The pair received a 10 for their trot. The second-place pair was Søren Wind riding another horse from the Svalegaard Stud: Svalegaards Disco by Duke of Hannover out of a Tailormade Temptation dam.

Seven-Year-Old: Divya, an Exceptional Horse

The only competition in which Helgstrand didn’t set the tone was the seven-year-olds’ final. There, the fantastic Brandtbjerg’s Divya with Theresa Rosenkilde. The Hesselhøj Donkey Boy daughter (dam of Don Olymbrio, bred by the Buhl family) won silver at the 2025 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses under Anders Sjöbeck Hoeck, was subsequently sold to Rosenkilde, and this year, with Rosenkilde in the saddle, won another World Championship medal, this time Bronze. She received 92 percent for the quality of her basic gaits, rideability, prospects, and harmony, with no individual score below 9. Added to this was a strong 75.714 percent for her technical performance. This resulted in a final score of 83.857 percent.

Right behind him was another Helgstrand horse, the KWPN stallion One to Remember by Secret out of a Vivaldi dam (breeders: B. Lichtendahl, B.H.J. Peper), ridden by Eric Guardia Martinez (88.429/73.0/80.715). Also from the Helgstrand stable is the bronze medalist, the Hanoverian Valerio by Vitalis-Belissimo M, bred by Jörg Schrödter and ridden by Marianne Helgstrand (85.857/70.429/78.143).

Another finalist from a German breeding program was the Hanoverian Farringhton, who placed sixth with Daniel Bachmann Andersen (81.143/69.857/75.5). Marion Sage bred this son of Fürst Samarant out of a Trakehner dam by Rheinklang-Latimer. He comes from the direct dam line of the Grand Prix stallion Polarzauber by Charly Chaplin.

All the results are available here.