Gross sales top over $2.5 million at annual VDL Stud’s sport horse auction

Fourteen horses from the Dutch breeder VDL Stud found new homes last night at the annual sport horse auction held in the International Ring at the Winter Equestrian Festival.

Sale topper VDL Cagaro was a last-minute Grand Prix addition to the auction. Photo: courtesy of VDL Stud.

Gross sales reached $2,620,000 helped along by the final horse in the ring and a last-minute addition to the sales roster, VDL Cagaro, the most advanced horse on offer, having competed at three-star Grand Prix level.

Part of the appeal of the auction is the logistical advantage of having European horses, vetted and ready to go on US soil. “Avoid traveling all over the world to find your new horse,” according to Janko van de Lagewe, whose father laid the foundations for the VDL Stud when he bought his first horse for breeding in 1972. “We bring them to your doorstep in Wellington.” The irony in this case, being that VDL Cagaro, by Stolzenberg, became the sale topper through an online bid of $380,000 from Norway. That said, only one other horse was sold online and the second highest final bid of $300,000 for VDL Martini – currently jumping 1m35 and sired by VDL Zapatero – came from the auction floor.

WEF International Ring provides the setting for the annual VDL Sport Horse auction. Photo: Sportfot.

The night began with a celebration of one of VDL’s greatest success stories, as Grand Prix horse Machu Picchu, was commemorated. He was bought as a four-year-old, named VDL Chester at the time, at the 2011 auction by Ted Wachtel, without being ridden. “Although we were drawn to his physical qualities, namely his effortless style, after having him in the barn for a short time we learned that his best quality was his character,” Ted recalled.

Ireland’s Paul O’Shea first partnered with Machu Picchu, when the gelding was seven and according to Paul “he was a life-changing horse for me. He brought me to a new level taking me to the World Championships in Tryon 2018.” When he jumped his last show, winning a 1.60m class in Dublin in 2022, he had stayed jumping consistently at the five-star level for eight years and the combination of the Irishman and the Dutch sport horse, had a slew of victories to their name.

A fond farewell to Machu Picchu who has retired to a farm in Virginia. Photo: Chelsea Lothrop.

His owners, Trish Hurter, Frank and Bonnie Cunniffe, Phyllis and Harry Agnew, Andrew Sinner and Ira Gumberg have since retired him to Trish’s farm in Virginia.