Leon Melchior, founder of the world-renowed Zangersheide Stud, has passed away at the age of 88, at home with his family in Lanaken (BEL).
The business world remembers Leon Melchior as a dynamic and successful entrepreneur. In the world of equestrian sports, he was a pioneer and one of the first to turn the breeding of Jumping horses into a science.
An enterprise that began as a Jumping stables in the 1970s was transformed by Leon Melchior into a breeding farm that eventually became the Zangersheide Stud. Attention to detail and objective assessment of results were key to the success of the Zangersheide venture. He always surrounded himself with experts that could deliver his vision, leading to the consistent production of classically bred, top-class equine athletes with the trademark Z for the Zangersheide Studbook.
Trained by Johan Heins during his international Jumping career, Leon Melchior competed on many Nations Cup teams for The Netherlands. He also organised the Belgian CSIO at Zangersheide for a number of years, as well as hosting the first FEI Nations Cup™ Final in 1991.
Johan Heins, who was based at Zangersheide for many years, always said that Leon Melchior’s greatest achievement was improving the quality of horses competing in the sport of Jumping through his legendary breeding programme. One of the best known horses bred by Leon Melchior was the mare Ratina Z, which Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum rode to individual gold at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992.
Leon Melchior was made an Officer in the Order of Leopold, a Belgian national honorary order. He also received the Maastricht Medal of Merit, and was a freeman of the town of Lanaken. He was also founder of 53 different companies.
Zangersheide and the production of sport horses were his two greatest passions which he enjoyed until the last weeks before his death. His incredible legacy will continue on into the future through his daughter, Judy-Ann, a member of the Belgian Jumping team who will keep the Melchior name to the fore in the equestrian world for many years to come.
“The world of show jumping and horse breeding, has lost one of its greatest friends and most generous supporters with the passing away of Leon Melchior”, FEI President Ingmar de Vos said.
Leon Melchior, founder of the world-renowed Zangersheide Stud, who has passed away at the age of 88. (FEI/Dirk Caremans)
“He was the first promoter that put together the world of sport and breeding with the creation of the FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Horses Jumping at Zangersheide. These prestigious championships identify the best young Jumping horses, and the titles have had a very high value from the beginning more than two decades ago. With the Sires of the World, he created a global stage for the best stallions to display their talents.
“Leon was a true visionary and innovator, and his passing leaves a tremendous void in our lives that will be difficult to fill. He was a very close personal friend. I will miss him dearly and my heart is with his family.”
The FEI expresses its sincere condolences to Leon Melchior’s family, his many friends, the Belgian Equestrian Federation and the global Jumping community.
Melchior’s funeral will take place at Domain Zangersheide in Lanaken on Tuesday, 17 November.
The French combination of Simon Delestre and Hermes Ryan won the adrenalin-filled fourth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2015/2015 Western European League in sensational style at Verona, Italy today.
The 15-horse jump-off against the clock was full of thrills and surprises, with the unusual occurrence of superstars Ludger Beerbaum (Chaman) from Germany and Scott Brash (Hello M’Lady) from Great Britain tied for the lead at the halfway stage after breaking the beam in precisely the same time. But at the end of the memorable competition they eventually had to settle for joint-third place when overtaken by Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann (Cantinero) in runner-up spot and Delestre with his brave and agile chestnut who came out on top.
Rose to the challenge
It was a day when many promising young horses really rose to the challenge of top-class sport over a big, demanding but straight-forward course designed by Italian maestro, Uliano Vezzani. Max Kuhner’s fabulous grey stallion, Chardonnay, is only eight, yet still found the key to the track that included a testing triple combination at fence six and a difficult line from the triple-bar at eight to the following double – vertical to oxer. Coming up on a four-stride distance from the previous obstacle, elements of the latter constantly hit the floor, while the penultimate oxer also took its toll throughout the afternoon.
Chardonnay was clear once again for the Austrian rider in the jump-off, setting the target when sixth to go in a time of 47.84 seconds.
Vezzani’s new track proved a bit of a puzzle for the early runners, and Kuhner opted for a careful tour with his talented young charge. So when Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson broke the beam in 38.89 seconds with Unita ASK he went well into the lead only to be immediately overtaken by Dutchman Maikel van der Vleuten and the ever-reliable VDL Groep Verdi who were half a second quicker.
However it was the man who claimed the coveted FEI World Cup™ Jumping trophy for Germany for the very first time back in 1993 who really set today’s competition alight, Ludger Beerbaum steering Chaman home in 37.83 seconds to throw it down to the rest of the field. The knowledgable crowd jumped to their feet in appreciation as he cleared the line, convinced that this could not be bettered, but there was plenty more excitement to come.
Critical points
Critical points on the jump-off track were the rollback to the vertical at fence three, and another from the water-tray oxer at five to the two remaining elements of the triple combination. World No. 1, Scott Brash, produced a brilliant turn to the third fence with the nine-year-old Hello M’Lady and galloped down to the last, but the crowd gasped with amazement when the clock showed exactly the same time as it did for Beerbaum. The prospect of joint-winners seemed very much on the cards, but Delestre had other ideas about that.
The Frenchman said afterwards that he was determined not to push Hermes Ryan too hard, but that “he’s a small horse with a lot of scope so that always gives you an advantage against the clock. I decided I would just try to be fast without going crazy”, and it worked like a dream as they broke the timers in 36.46 seconds to go out in front. It still wasn’t quite over however, as, second-last to go, Henrik von Eckermann, on the considerably bigger gelding Cantinero, was well in touch coming down to the final fence. “Maybe I could have done one less (stride) to the last” the Swedish rider mused after posting his time of 36.72 seconds for second place.
A little fresh
“Verona is my first show with Ryan since the Europeans at Aachen, and he was a little fresh the first day” said 34-year-old Delestre who claimed individual bronze at this summer’s Championships at the hallowed German venue. He changed his plan for the weekend when he realised his little Selle-Francais gelding was on his toes. “Usually I would jump him in a small class and then the Grand Prix, but instead I did the big class yesterday because I wanted him to settle, and anyway I didn’t want to shock him with the size of the fences today”, he explained.
“Ryan is a typical French horse and the best I’ve ever had in my life – when he’s relaxed like he was today it’s easy to be fast with him – he’s very special, he has only had three fences down in this whole season!” said the rider who, having already collected points at both the first leg in Oslo (NOR) and the third leg in Lyon (FRA), is now qualified for the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2016 Final in Gothenburg, Sweden next March.
He has taken over at the top of the leaderboard, ousting his compatriot, Penelope Leprevost who has won two other legs of the series so far, and when asked this evening if the Western European League is turning into “the French World Cup series”, Delestre replied, “yes, we are in great form right now, and the French team are feeling very, very happy!”
For further information on the fourth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2015/2016 Western European League series in Verona, Italy visit http://www.jumpingverona.it or contact Press Officer Caterina Vagnozzi, c.vagnozzi@gmail.com, +39 335 6107070.
The fifth leg will take place in Stuttgart, Germany on Sunday 22 November. For details of the German fixture visit http://www.stuttgart-german-masters.de
French winners Simon Delestre and Hermes Ryan pictured with Juan Carlos Capelli, Longines Vice-President and Head of International Marketing and Elisa Gasparini, Brand Manager Longines Italy after winning today’s fourth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2015/2016 Western European League at Verona, Italy. (FEI/Stefano Secchi)
Result:
1, Hermes Ryan (Simon Delestre) FRA 0/0 36.46;
2, Cantinero (Henrik von Eckermann) SWE 0/0 36.72;
3, Chaman (Ludger Beerbaum) GER 0/0 37.83;
3, Hello M’Lady (Scott Brash) GBR 0/0 37.83;
5, VDL Groep Verdi TN NOP (Maikel van der Vleuten) NED 0/0 38.24;
6, Unita ASK (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) SWE 0/0 38.89;
7, Glock’s Cognac Champblanc (Gerco Schroder) NED 0/0 39.54;
8, Chaccorina (Marco Kutscher) GER 0/0 40.88;
9, Chardonnay (Max Kuhner) AUT 0/0 47.84;
10, Rokfeller de Pleville Bois Margot (Eduardo Alvarez Aznar) ESP 0/4 40.81;
11, Cornet du Lys (Jose Maria Larocca) ARG 0/4 42.40;
The FEI World Cup™ Jumping series celebrates its 38th season as the 2015/2016 Longines-sponsored Western European League gets underway in Oslo (NOR) this weekend.
The race for this title is always guaranteed to produce the best of top-quality sport, and reigning Olympic champion, Steve Guerdat, was only the third Swiss rider to claim the treasured trophy when victorious at the thrilling 2014/2015 Longines Final in Las Vegas (USA) last April.
One of the reasons the world’s leading competitors want to hold this coveted award in their hands is because it places their names amongst the legends of the sport. The list of champions includes so many of the greatest horse-and-rider partnerships of all time, including back-to-back winners Ian Millar and Big Ben from Canada and John Whitaker and Milton from Great Britain. Both of these men were riding horses of exceptional ability and enormous character, and their relationships with their equine buddies has been an inspiration to the generations who have attempted to follow in their revered footsteps.
Holds the record
There are four riders who have claimed the FEI World Cup™ Jumping title on three occasions, and Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa holds the record for a consecutive hat-trick of wins, all achieved with the same stallion, the brilliant Baloubet du Rouet, who proved unbeatable from 1997 until 1999. Austria’s Hugo Simon, who remains very active in the sport today, was the first champion back in 1979 with Gladstone, and added two more titles with ET FRH in 1996 and 1997.
American riders, who dominated the series in the early years, have made a significant comeback in recent times, but the two remaining three-time champions, Germany’s Marcus Ehning and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, will undoubtedly be challenging throughout the qualifying rounds ahead of the 2015/2016 Final which returns to Gothenburg in Sweden for the 14th time.
A total of 15 Leagues are taking place across the globe, stretching from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South East and Central Asia and China, across North and South America, the Middle East and on to Caucasia and Central and Western Europe. In all, 108 qualifying events will have been staged before the 2016 Final begins at Gothenburg’s Scandinavium Arena on 23 March next year.
Rapid-fire affair
It’s a rapid-fire affair in this season’s Western European League, with eight of the 11 qualifying legs taking place over the next 10 weeks, beginning with the opener in Oslo on Sunday 18 October.
It was Dutchman Jur Vrieling, on a roll with VDL Zirocco Blue following The Netherlands’ domination at both the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy (FRA) and the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2014 Final in Barcelona (ESP), who claimed the honours at the Norwegian fixture 12 months ago when he pinned Germany’s Marco Kutscher and Cornet’s Cristallo into runner-up spot.
The early rounds of this series tend to attract a world-class field of starters attempting to rack up points in order to avoid the intense pressure of chasing qualification later in the season, and the defending champion, Steve Guerdat, did just that last year when finishing third in Oslo with his Olympic gold medal winning ride, Nino des Buissonnets. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum took fourth spot on that occasion with the fabulous grey Fibonacci who, a year later, is considerably more experienced and one of the most exciting horses in the sport right now.
Jur Vrieling is back on the Oslo startlist again this year, and it really is a sparkling line-up with world number one Scott Brash joined by his British counterparts Joe Clee and Jessica Mendoza, who did a great job to secure runner-up spot for their country at the 2015 Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Final in Spain at the end of last month. Guerdat will be there again, hoping to collect more of those valuable points that put him on the road to success last season, and with Patrice Delaveau, Simon Delestre, Penelope Leprevost and Kevin Staut lining out for France, and Ludger Beerbaum, Marcus Ehning, Hans Dieter Dreher and 2014 champion Daniel Deusser in action for Germany, it looks set to be a rip-roaring opening competition.
The League continues with the second leg in Helsinki (FIN) on 25 October followed by Lyon (FRA), Verona (ITA), Stuttgart (GER) and Madrid (ESP) in November, and London Olympia (GBR) and Mechelen (BEL) in December. Leipzig (GER) gets the New Year off to a start and then there are only two further legs remaining, at Zurich (SUI) later in January and Bordeaux (FRA) in early February 2016.
The FEI World Cup™ Jumping series has produced many of the greatest talents ever seen in the sport, and the Western European League has been the breeding ground of legends. With the dawning of another Olympic year only a few short months away, there is great anticipation of exceptional sport over the coming months as skill, accuracy, courage and stamina are tested in the demanding confines of Europe’s finest indoor arenas.
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