2026 Westphalian Championships: Moon River, Famous Rubin, Be My Sunshine, Zacolar, and others

Anyone who regularly attends association and national championships knows that it’s not every year that there’s that one horse everyone’s talking about. In Westphalia this year, there were several horses that had the potential to be the number one topic of conversation, starting with the new champion mare, who has now also been crowned riding horse champion: Moon River.

Three-Year-Old Champion: A Dream Horse

It’s a bit like the “Dante’s Pearl” effect: a horse enters the arena that’s not only jet-black and stunningly beautiful, but also moves as if out of a fairy tale. Such is the case with the three-year-old mare Moon River, who—through her sire Maxim by Toto Jr.—is a great-granddaughter of Totilas out of a dam by Escolar, who in turn is a half-sister to the licensed, award-winning, and S-level successful stallion Goldberg. Moon River was bred at the Gut Neuenhof stud farm, where her sire Maxim, her maternal grandsire Escolar, and her “great-uncle” Goldberg are all used for breeding.

With Danica Duen in the saddle, Moon River was already unbeatable in the qualifier for today’s final. She faced strong competition at the mare show, but in the end she managed to leave everyone behind. And that’s exactly how it went today in the final riding horse class, where two panels of judges submitted their scores. The scores for the trot: 8.5 from one panel, 9.5 from the other; for the canter: 9.0 and 8.5; for the walk: two 9.5s; for age-appropriate mastery of the training scale (in short: training): 9.5 and 9.0, and for conformation: two 8.0s. This resulted in an average score of 8.9 and thus a clear victory.

The silver medal went to the gelding Be the One by Be my Dancer-Ampere, bred by Heinz Fockenberg and presented by his owner, Melanie Klein. Among other things, he received a 9.5 and a 9.0 for his canter, as well as two 9.0s for his training. Overall score: 8.50.

Julia Große-Geldermann took home the bronze medal as the rider of Fräulein Bonds JH by Flashbang-Bonds (breeder: Hermann Reckmann; owner: Julia and Hermann Reckmann). With a solid “good” in all categories and an 8.5 for the canter, the pair achieved an overall score of 8.05.

The mare Penny Lane by Santos, bred by Christine Arns-Krogmann—who was the 2nd reserve champion at the Elite Show and had achieved the best mare performance test of her age group—finished fifth in the test with a score of 7.75.

The National Champion is back

Last year, the Westphalian Benicio-For Dance mare Be my Sunshine NRW was the acclaimed National Champion in Warendorf and was actually supposed to be sold at auction afterward. She was sold for a six-figure sum but still belongs to her breeders, the Ulmker family. And so it was Christiane Ulmker who, once again this year in Münster-Handorf, showcased Be my Sunshine in an exemplary manner in every respect.

The mare is now four years old, and just as they did for the Bundeschampionat, the Westphalians decided to hold their own competition as part of a Class A dressage test. Be my Sunshine had no trouble at all with this. She won the class with a strong 9.1, thereby positioning herself for Warendorf, where she also scored points last year for her exemplary training, among other things.

One stallion who is increasingly making a name for himself through his offspring is Zanetti, a son of Zoom. He sired the silver medalist, Zauberfee (dam by Florenciano), who was ridden by Sina Aringer. The breeder is Markus Schulze Finkenbrink, and the owner is Mathieu Beckmann. Zauberfee’s score: 8.8.

The bronze medal went to Special Effect by Segantini-Lemony’s Nicket, ridden by Thomas Schulze. The mare is still owned by the breeding partnership of Matthias Wehr and Thomas Schulze. Her score: 8.6.

Rising Star Zacolar

The same breeder-owner consortium behind Zauberfee is also responsible for the champion of the four-year-old stallions, who is also a son of Zanetti—though out of a dam by Escolar: Zacolar, who was the second reserve champion at his licensing in 2024. He, too, was presented by Sina Aringer. The two were the first pair in the first of three sections, and essentially, the winner was already a foregone conclusion by then. Zacolar received multiple 10s, both for his canter and for his overall impression. All other component scores were hardly any less impressive, earning him a 9 before the decimal point from both groups of judges. He achieved a solid 9.6.

Second place went to a direct son of Zoom named Zake. Ludger Wigger-Pieper bred him out of the De Niro dam that produced the winning stallion at the 2023 Westphalian Licensing. Zake is owned by Helgstrand Dressage and was presented in Münster by Emma Gömmer, receiving a score of 8.8.

Third place went to Danubio, a Marbach stud stallion by Damaschino-Dimaggio, bred by Karl-August Schulze-Varendorff and ridden by Linus Keller (8.3).

Champion of the Three-Year-Old Colts

Among the three-year-old stallions, Famous Rubin by Friedrich der Große-Goldberg, bred by Heinrich Ramsbrock, prevailed over his competitors with a score of 8.3. Beatrice Arturi presented him on behalf of Gestüt Sprehe.

Virtuoso, presented by Kim Leonie Ricke—a son of Isabell Werth’s Valdiviani out of a Pik Labionics dam (breeder: Peter Thomas, owner: Gestüt Schafhof)—was narrowly defeated with a score of 8.2.

Right behind him was Bellingham , a son of Bonds, ridden by Melanie Geßmann. The handsome chestnut’s dam is by Franziskus. His grandmother is the highly successful mare Señorita Meyer by Sir Donnerhall, who, when bred to F-line stallions, produced five licensed sons for breeder Bernhard Ilting-Reuke, including the champion stallion and Bundeschampionat finalist Fynch Hatton.

The Champions on the Course

Forlee, a son of For Pleasure out of Katrin Eckermann’s former German Champion and World Show Jumping Champion Chao Lee (by Comme il faut-Chacco Blue), made his mark at the Westphalian Championship for four-year-old show jumpers. He sired both the winner, Forfire —scored 8.8 (dam by Captain Fire, bred and trained by Georg Sievert) ridden by Wiebke Sievert, as well as the bronze medalist Fontana, who was born at Sportpferde Merschformann GmbH, has a Stakkatol dam, and was presented by Malte Merschformann for a score of 8.5.

In between them was the stallion Emerthago by Emerald van’t Ruytershof-Cornet Obolensky (8.6), presented by Marie Ligges.

Conthalou-Carolino is the sire of the champion of the five-year-olds, Conthalino SP, whom Mario Maintz presented on behalf of breeder and owner Silvia Palster. Vivien Schauren took home the silver medal aboard Daiquiri , a son of Diathago and Quo Vados (breeders: ZG Brockhaus and Gläser; owner: Wolfgang Balzereit). The bronze medal went to Diamant de Soleil by Diamant de Casall-Quintero, whom Manuel Feldmann presented on behalf of breeder and owner Laura Lenatz.

Mario Maintz also rode the champion of the six-year-olds, which was determined in a Class M** show jumping competition with a jump-off. Riding I’m Alive by I’m Special de Muze-Capitalist (breeder and owner: Bernd Gerlach), he posted the fastest of the seven clear rounds in the jump-off. Silver went to Doris Grey by Dominator Z-Lord Pezi (breeder and trainer: Klaus Brüggemann) with Jacqueline Hempe, and bronze to Coco Casca EST with Katrin Eckermann. The breeder is Sjaak Bindels, and the owner is Annegret Eckermann.