FOR the very first time, the Flanders Embryo Auction is coming to Ireland, in cooperation with Ronan Rothwell of Boleybawn Horses.

Twenty high-class embryos will be auctioned on Friday, August 9th, in the Intercontinental Hotel, Ballsbridge, after the famous Aga Khan Nations Cup at the Dublin Horse Show.

The buyers of the embryos on the night will be the breeder, and foals can be registered in Ireland meaning they can compete in the young horse classes at the Dublin Horse Show, the ISH Studbook classes and the Irish Breeders Classic.

Uniquely, the surrogate mare is included in the price of the foal, and therefore the buyer has no return transport costs for the mare. In addition, and making the auction even more appealing to Irish buyers, transport of the in-foal mares to Ireland is also included in the cost of the embryo. Insurance can be arranged on the night, which covers 100% before birth, 200% 48hrs after birth, so there is no risk involved.

Heavily involved in the breeding industry in Ireland and the driving force behind the Irish Breeders Classic and foal sale, Ronan Rothwell was approached by Flanders a few months back to help make an Irish auction happen.

Speaking about the upcoming sale, Rothwell said: “The standard is exceptionally high. It is a very good chance for people who are at the Dublin Horse Show to jump straight into some of the best families in the world.”

Doors open at 7.30pm and light refreshments will be served before the auction begins at 8pm. Everyone is welcome.

Gerald Lenaerts of Flanders Auction

The embryos

Lot 1 CHACCO-BLUE X BAMAKO DE MUZE.The auction begins strongly with a Chacco-Blue embryo. Ranked number one in the Rolex WBFSH show jumping sire rankings for 2018, Chacco-Blue is highly sought after and hard to come by. The second dam is a full-sister to former world champion Vigo D’Arsouilles.

Lot 2 CORNET OBOLENSKY X DIAMANT DE SEMILLY. Out of a full-sister to the 1.60m winning stallion Emerald (Harrie Smolders). Second dam (Carthina Z) bred multiple top performers, including Diamanthina Van’t Ruytershof (Constant Van Paesschen).

Lot 3 EMERALD X HARLEY VDL. There are plenty of 1.60m jumpers in this pedigree, including Shane Breen’s Golden Hawk and the 2010 London Olympic individual silver medallist London (Gerco Schroder).

Lot 4 COMME IL FAUT X BALOU DU ROUET. By the popular Marcus Ehning-partnered Comme Il Faut, who is out of one of the most famous show jumping mares, Ratina Z, this embryo has a scatter of 1.50m pedigree on the dam’s side, including the exciting Comilfo Plus Z (Christian Ahlmann).

Lot 5 TOBAGO X CASCAVELLE. Perhaps one of the standouts of the catalogue, this embryo has Rolex Grand Slam form on both sides of its pedigree. By Tobago Z (Daniel Deusser), who just last week finished second in the Aachen Grand Prix, the embryo is a half-brother/sister to former Aachen and Spruce Meadows Rolex Grand Prix winner LB Convall (Philipp Weishaupt).

Lot 5 is a half brother/sister to Philipp Weishaupt's Aachen and Spruce Meadows Grand Slam winner LB Convall \ Rolex/Ashley Neuhof

Lot 6 FOR PLEASURE X ASCA Z. Second dam (Arinca) bred 1.60m Grand Prix winner Sea Coast Pebbles (Gundrun Patteet) and Aristo Z (Ben Maher), and also in the family is Denis Lynch’s former 1.60m ride RMF Echo, among others.

Lot 7 CHACCO-BLUE X DIAMANT DE SEMILLY. Another by the highly sought after Chacco-Blue, this one’s second dam is the mother of 1.60m performer Electra van’t Roosakker (Janika Sprunger).

Lot 8 CORNET OBOLENSKY X BALOUBET DU ROUET. The second of four Cornet Obolensky-sired embryos, the dam of this has a proven record at 1.50m level with Dutchman Leon Kuypers, and has already sired 1.60m performer Carrera VDL (Jur Vrieling). The grandmother (Esprit) is the dam of the wonderful Tinkas Boy (Markus Fuchs).

Lot 9 QUICK STAR X WANDOR VD MISPELAERE. This dam of this embryo is out of the wonderful Cella, ridden to multiple five-star Grand Prix and Nations Cup wins by Britain’s Ben Maher.

Lot 10 EMERALD X CATOKI. Out of the Mikey Pender-ridden 1.50m winning Irish Sport Horse mare HHS Fortune, who is a close relation to Marion Hughes’ 1.60m winners HHS Fortuna and HHS Figero.

Lot 11 HEARTBREAKER X KANNAN. This embryo is closely related to five-star Grand Prix winner Mylord Carthago (Penelope Leprevost) on the dam side, which is littered with a huge number of 1.50m-1.60m jumpers.

Lot 12 BALOU DU REVENTON X CORONADO. By the show jumping horse of the moment, Balou du Reventon (Darragh Kenny), the dam of this embryo, Coronada, jumped at the 2011 European Championships and on in the Aga Khan at Dublin with Denmark’s Christian Schou.

Lot 13 CHACCO-BLUE X VIGO D’ARSOUILLES. Possibly the pick of the catalogue, the second of three Chacco-Blue embryos on offer comes from the same family of Lot 3 but it even closer related to the top horses. The dam, Vibelle Z, is a full-sister to Golden Hawk (Shane Breen). Her mother, Ta Belle Van Sombeke, has bred no less than six 1.60m horses.

Lot 14 CORNET OBOLENSKY X NORTON D’EOLE. A granddaughter/grandson of the wonderful Butterfly Flip (Malin Baryard Johnsson), multiple five-star World Cup and Grand Prix winner, as well as team silver medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Lot 15 DOMINATOR 2000 Z X SHEYENNE DE BAUGY. Another pedigree which will be familiar to Irish breeders, the dam, Biscaya D’eversem, was ridden on the Irish circuit by Joan Greene and part of a winning Nations Cup team in 2010.

Lot 16 CUMANO X NABAB DE REVE. The dam is a full-sister to Jos Lansink’s 2012 Olympic mount Valentina Van’t Heike, and half-sister to Epleaser van’t Heike, Christian Ahlmann’s 2015 European Championship mount and Grand Prix winner.

Lot 17 EMERALD X CELANO. The dam, HH Ciske Van Overis, was a top 1.60m performers under Edwina Tops Alexander and has bred Little Pleaure (1.35m, Laura Renwick).

Lot 18 CALVARO X PAPILLON ROUGE. Another pick on paper, this embryo is a full-brother/sister to the incredible 1.60m horse Night Train (Darragh Kerins/Denis Lynch).

Lot 19 CHACCO-BLUE X ELVIS TER PUTTE. The final of the Chacco-Blue embryos, this is closely related to Darragh Kenny’s Important De Muze (1.50m) and five-star Spruce Meadows Grand Prix winner Candy (Pieter Devos), among others.

Lot 20 CORNET OBOLENSKY X QUIDAM JUNIOR. Irish buyers will no doubt be most interested in the final embryo of the night. The dam, GCS Rio (ISH), is a full-sister to Greg Broderick’s 2016 Rio Olympics mount MHS Going Global. Gowran Lady (grandam) bred 2017 five-year-old Dublin Horse Show champion (BP First Editions), among many other 1.50m performers.