Lion d’Angers is to eventing riders what Lanaken is to show jumpers and Verden and Ermelo are to dressage riders: the place where the champions of tomorrow come together, where young horses are scouted and careers are forged. Sam and a Chipmunk competed here, as did an Opgun Louvo, a Vassily de Lassos, a Toledo de Kerser and a Lordships Graffalo – often not with the riders with whom they are now the talk of the town.

It remains to be seen whether one of the horses competing for Germany in France this year will also make it to the top of the world rankings. Two six-year-old and seven seven-year-old bush talents will try.

Six-year-olds

The six-year-olds will compete in Lion d’Angers as part of a CCI2*, advertised as CH-M-YH-CCI2*.

For Germany are:

Chocorado with Wiebke Jaspers

Chocorado is an OS gelding by Conthargos out of a Diarado-Graf Top dam. He was bred by Eva and Axel Hartmann, who still own him. Chocorado was trained by Wiebke Jaspers from the very beginning and was already able to put himself in the limelight as a four-year-old in aptitude tests for cross-country horses.

In 2024, the Leuwer couple took over the training of the gelding. With Ben Leuwer, he took fourth place at the Bundeschampionat.

Wiebke Jaspers took over Chocorado’s riding again this season and they qualified for the Bundeschampionat again. After 23rd place in the qualifier, they could have recommended themselves for the decision via the small final, but Jaspers decided against it. Their international results show that things can go very differently in Lion d’Angers. In five starts in 2025, they were victorious three times and finished sixth once. Only once did they have a run past (and were still almost on time) and only once did a pole fall in the course. Otherwise, they were always clear at the obstacles and within the time allowed in both the cross and the course. Chocorado can also do a dressage test under 30 minus points.

Ajana with Julia Krajewski

Chocorado faces competition not least from his own ranks. Olympic champion Julia Krajewski achieved the feat of producing the winner, the runner-up and the fourth-placed horse at the Bundeschampionat. She now wants to reach the podium in Lion d’Angers with the Championess.

This is the DSP mare Ajana by Karajan-C Trenton, bred by Eckhard Kögler for the Saxony-Thuringia DSP section and owned by Gestüt Fohlenhof, which also owns Krajewski’s Olympic champion Amande de B’Neville and her current top horse Nickel, with whom she is planning for the 2026 World Championships.

2025 was Ajana’s first show season and it could hardly have gone better. The mare became a serial winner of cross-country tests. She competed internationally four times, was second twice in a CCI1* Intro and seventh once at the CCI2*-S in Hamm. The dress rehearsal for Lion d’Angers was the CCI2*-S in Strzegom. It was there, of all places, that the mare had her first cross-country clear round. But it’s a good omen when dress rehearsals don’t work out as hoped.

Seven-year-old

The seven-year-olds will compete at CCI3* level, i.e. as CH-M-YH-CCI3*. There are seven pairs competing for Germany. A short round of introductions.

Blaya d’Ha Z with Antonia Baumgart

Antonia Baumgart had already said at the beginning of the year that she was aiming for the World Championships in Lion d’Angers with Blaya d’Ha Z if everything went according to plan. Now they are on the list of participants.

Through her sire Brunetti Z, Blaya d’Ha Z carries Baloubet du Rouet blood on her sire’s side, bred to a Selle Français dam. Although the mare is registered as a Zangersheide warmblood, she was born in France to Hubert Doublet.

She has been competing with Antonia Baumgart since 2023. As a foreign horse, the Bundeschampionat was never an option for her, but she won several ribbons in show jumping and cross-country tests. In 2024, the pair also competed in their first international competitions and only had one obstacle fault in cross-country in eight starts in their first year.

At the beginning of the season, Baumgart and Blaya d’Ha Z prepared for the upcoming tasks with Julia Krajewski and her partner Pietro Roman in Italy. This started with several placings. Back home in Germany, they had to give up in Münster, but since then the pair have been purring through the terrain. Their last start before France was the CCI3* in Langenhagen, where they finished fifth with a dressage score of 32.9 minus points.

Call me Pucky with Arne Bergendahl

For once, Arne Bergendahl is not sitting in the saddle of a home-bred horse. The Westphalian chestnut mare Call me Pucky is a Cornet Obolensky granddaughter via her sire Crusoe. The dam’s side continues with the thoroughbred Lenz xx and a Westphalian line. Maria Bruns is responsible for the breeding here.

In her first show jumping seasons, Call me Pucky competed exclusively in show jumping competitions. Eike Felix Thamm presented her in tests for young show jumpers in 2022 and 2023 before she joined Arne Bergendahl in 2024 and changed disciplines. The pair won a VL in her very first season and made their first international starts. The mare has now completed eight cross-country starts and has not had a single obstacle fault – apart from the fact that she lost her rider at her very first start and was therefore eliminated. But apart from that, she always finished, often even in time. She also jumped clear every time at the last three competitions. Langenhagen was also the dress rehearsal for the pair, which they finished in eighth place.

Diacondiva with Ann-Catrin Bierlein

As fourth-placed at last year’s World Championships, these two are likely to be among the favorites. Diacondiva’s full name is Diacondiva FRH, a Hanoverian mare whose sporting successes were deemed worthy enough to bear the “FRH”. She is by Diacontinus out of a Sunlight xx-Gardeoffizier dam. Johannes Hilmer is the breeder and the Bierlein family are the owners.

Diacondiva has been competing since she was five years old and Ann-Catrin Bierlein has been in her saddle ever since. Her very first cross-country test was a victory and it didn’t stop there.

The following year, the aforementioned fourth place at the World Championships in Lion d’Angers followed with a penalty-free cross-country round. Had it not been for a knockdown in the course, they would have won bronze.

The 2025 season began with a victory in the CCI2*-S in Luhmühlen. The pair have yet to finish in the top ten at three-star level – but they had none at two-star level in 2024 and still finished fourth at the World Championships.

Intouchable Tonic with Julia Krajewski

Julia Krajewski is probably one of the few trainers who can claim to have brought two Olympic champions into the sport: Amande de B’Neville and Chipmunk, whom she had to hand over to Michael Jung before they reached their joint zenith. Not every top rider is an equally good trainer, but Krajewski is. Her partner in Paris, Nickel, was also “self-made”. She now has two irons in the fire at the World Championships, alongside Ajana in the six-year-olds, Intouchable Tonic in the seven-year-olds.

The bay is a Selle Français gelding bred by S.c.e.a. Des Bois and comes from the direct dam line of Kai Rüder’s former star Leprince des Bois by Yarlands Summer Song. Leprince is the full brother of Intouchable Tonic’s dam, who appropriately goes by the name of Olympia. With Al Capone des Bois, she also produced an international horse that was successful with the German cross-country trainer, Rodolphe Scherer, until 2019.

Intouchable Tonic’s sire, the Anglo-Arabian grey Upsilon (who has a Holsteiner sire in Canturo), competed twice at the World Championships for Young Event Horses, first finishing fifth and then winning silver. In 2017, he represented France at the European Championships in Strzegom.

In terms of pedigree, Intouchable Tonic’s success is in his cradle. He has belonged to Julia Krajewski together with Malte Plagmann and Wilhelm Dumrath since the beginning of 2023. Krajewski and the bay competed in their first international eventing competitions in 2024. After being zero and in time every time at intro level, they ventured onto a two-star course in Luhmühlen. It was here that the gelding had his first and, to date, only runner-up. In Arville in August, he once triggered a safety system at a jump. Otherwise, his cross-country record is impeccable and he has never had more than one knockdown on the course.

MBF Senorita with Sven Lux

MBF Senorita is a representative of the Anglo-European Studbook (AES) and was bred by Brian Flynn in Ireland. His breeding is well known there and Senorita’s pedigree really makes the heart of every eventing fan beat faster.

Her dam Beca by Fines xx has not only competed herself, she is the full sister of no less than four CCI5* (then still 4*) horses, including Andrew Nicholson’s sensational Nereo, who won three times at Badminton and twice at Burghley.

Senorita’s sire is Ramiro B, himself successful in show jumping up to 1.60 meters, who can probably be considered one of the best eventing sires of the present day.

This Senorita has been at Michael Jung’s stables since 2023, where Sven Lux works as a rider. After her first intro starts in 2023, Senorita didn’t really start life as a competition horse until she was six years old. Lux presented her four times at CCI2*-S events, each time finishing without any faults. This didn’t change when another star was added. And most recently, the mare also jumped clear through the course. This is how she won her dress rehearsal, the CCI3*-S in Strzegom, at the beginning of October.

Jungle Drum with Kai-Steffen Meier

Kai-Steffen Meier is now working more as a trainer, including for his wife, five-star winner and Olympic rider Lara de Liederkerke-Meier, with whom he runs the Arville riding facility in Gesves, Belgium. The de Liederkerke family breed most of their top horses themselves. Jungle Drum, however, is a Hanoverian mare bred by Irene Tächl, who bred the top French sire Jaguar Mail to a Contendro mare. The dam is a half-sister to none other than Kaiser Johannsmann’s Gralshüter, a state stud stallion in Westphalia and successful on the international show jumping circuit at the highest level.

Jungle Drum already competed in Lion d’Angers last year, but then with Lara de Liederkerke-Meier. It was their last competition together. They came out of the arena with a runner past. The mare also had one at the start before and after, when she went with Kai-Steffen Meier for the first time. But never again since then. Langenhagen was also the preparation show for the pair, where they finished 36th with a clear round and one knockdown on the course.

Hjoptimus with Mathies Rüder

Hjoptimus is a Swedish warmblood and was also born here. Camilla Ericson is his breeder, but he is now jointly owned by the Reemtsma and Rüder families. His sire is Willem Greve’s sensational Holstein stallion Carambole. The dam is a Kannan daughter with a thoroughbred line behind her. Granddam Smart Fair Lady by Master Imp xx also produced the four-star horse Cooley Bounce, who accompanied Irish rider Alannah Kelly to three European Young Rider Championships, winning two team silver medals and one team and one individual bronze medal.

Like Jungle Drum, Hjoptimus is already familiar with the terrain in Lion d’Angers. Last year, he competed here with Christoffer Forsberg under the Swedish flag and finished twelfth.

The gelding has been riding under Mathies Rüder since this year and has been extremely successful: six starts, six top ten placings and most recently a victory in Mechtersen. However, that was at two-star level.

From tomorrow it’s time to keep your fingers crossed in Lion d’Angers. All information about the tournament is also available at mondialdulion.com