Appaloosa foal Joppe AR breaks records at the Flanders Foal Auction; United Touch's sister sells for six figures
Each point is worth 1,000 euros – Appaloosa foal sells for 386,000 euros
from Dominique Wehrmann 
In the United Arab Emirates, they want something extraordinary. Voilà: Joppe, an Appaloosa foal with show jumping lineage.
Photo: Flanders Foal Auction Joppe AR Z is the name of the spotted sensation from the Flanders Foal Auction. Joppe gets his color from his sire, J-Nius V.V. Z, a great-grandson of Quick Star. His sire, Little Indian, inherited his colorful coat from his dam, who herself has Irish roots. A truly colorful mix on the sire’s side, which breeder Annelore Roegiers paired with a Fantomas de Muze daughter from a proven line, namely the one that also produced Lauren Hough’s championship horse Quick Study and the exceptional sire Le Tot de Semilly.
The car’s pedigree and special paint job were worth a whopping 386,000 euros to a buyer from the United Arab Emirates. A bidder from Hungary tried to outbid them, but ultimately had to concede defeat.
Breeder Annelore Roegiers had to let it all sink in first. People at her table joked that she’d probably had as many heart attacks as Joppe had spots on his coat. “I’m incredibly happy and grateful,” she said joyfully after the bid was accepted. “This is totally crazy. I see it as compensation for all the bad luck I’ve had in life. I think my late partner decided from up above that it was my turn for some luck and said, ‘Now give her a helping hand.’”
HH Azur’s son is also in the UAE
The United Arab Emirates secured a total of eight contracts. A son of McLain Ward’s World Cup winner HH Azur also found a buyer here. The young stallion is named Emerald du Ciel HH Z; as his name suggests, he is a son of the Olympic stallion Emerald. He sold for 78,000 euros. Two offspring of Richard Vogel’s Aachen winner United Touch S are moving to the same stable: Di Caprio van’t Koningsbos, whose dam Fleur de Kalvarie by Nabab de Rêve-Darco is herself successful up to 1.55 meters, and Uptown Funk LR Z, out of a Heartbreaker dam whose several siblings have been successful up to 1.60 meters. Among others, Nikka vd Bisschop emerged from this line. The hammer price here was 68,000 euros.
Speaking of United Touch S …
Richard Vogel’s wonder stallion United Touch S was not only a prominent presence at the Flanders Foal Auction as a sire of foals. The auction also featured the eight-year-old broodmare Klarissa von Barlo by Kannan-Lux. She is a half-sister to United Touch S (and thus also to Zypria S, who was equally successful in top-level competition, competing with Willem Greve at the Tokyo Olympics and riding briefly under Sophie Hinners at age 15 before she was no longer seen in competition). Klarissa by Barlo was sold to the U.S., where her new owners bid 115,000 euros by telephone.
No offspring of the mare have been officially registered yet. In terms of competition, she has competed up to the M level.
No more auctions without online bids
The average price for the foals was 39,400 euros. A record, according to the auction organizers. “It’s always so hard to predict the outcome of an auction. The mood leading up to the event was very positive, but we never would have dared to dream of this. It was as if everyone in the room had won the lottery. The breeders are going home very satisfied,” said organizers Luk Van Puymbroeck and Gerald Lenaerts.
They also noted that an auction without the option to bid online is no longer conceivable for them. “We can’t even imagine an auction without the internet anymore, since online bids were pouring in from all directions. Twelve foals were sold to buyers present at Sentower Park, seven were sold by phone, and fifteen were sold online.”
The foals sold at the event fetched an average of 20,000 euros. Those sold online fetched an average of 60,000 euros.
You can find the entire collection, including videos and prices, here.
