While victors Matt Sampson and Ebolensky were the undisputed stars of the concluding Turkish Airlines London grand prix at the London International Horse Show, another pair who made it through to the four-way jump-off also caught the eye.
Denis Lynch was riding the youngest horse in the field, the eight-year-old Casall stallion Dark Chocolate 48, a horse that has long impressed as the Germany-based Irishman produces him carefully, but who really came of age in the five-star arena in London and looks set for a very bright future, both in the ring and as a breeding stallion.
“We’ve had him a while and have just been quietly developing him,” Denis tells H&H. “I felt in the last couple of weeks he was developing very well and we thought we’d give it a shot on Monday night in London and he really stood up to it, so I was delighted with his run, it was really good, especially with him being just an eight-year-old.
“It was quite a tricky, delicate track as well, so that was very, very good of him.”
Dark Chocolate’s first round clear in Monday’s (19 December) competition was foot perfect and the German-bred stallion just showed his inexperience when picking up eight faults against the clock. The young stallion was fully approved this year and his grand-dam on his maternal side is Wisma, the mother of the great Cassini I, and Denis has high hopes for the family’s rising star.
“Maybe we’ll do some collection from him next year, but not too much because mentally he’s very good and we want to keep him like that and just try to develop him in the ring, to make him the best horse possible,” says Denis. “He obviously has a very good pedigree – he’d be from one of the very best Holstein families. So he could be very good later, I’m just so happy to have him.”
‘You need to buy this horse’
Denis first teamed up with Dark Chocolate as a seven-year-old in 2021, and they made their international debut in young horse classes last September.
“He was jumping small classes nationally and he still belonged to his breeder and co-owner,” reveals Denis. “Vincent Voorn told me about him and said he thought I should follow this horse up a bit and sit on him and we did that. We tried him and we weren’t really that sure, but my wife said ‘I think you need to try to buy this horse’ and we did. So my wife pushed me into it.”
The pair won the young horse finals at the World Cup Final at Leipzig this year then competed in a few two-star shows including in grands prix.
“We then left him for a bit, we kept him working but mentally just let him really relax for a bit,” says Denis.
Their first show back was the five-star World Cup show at Stuttgart where the aptly named Dark Chocolate jumped clear in every class.
“He’d never jumped a 1.50m but we took him in a 1.55m and had a couple of time faults but was really good,” says Denis. “Then just to test him and to see what he was like mentally we put him in the six bar [at Madrid] and he jumped two rounds of that which is a really good sign of character in a horse.
“So I thought, let’s see how he runs here in London and he really took it well, so I was delighted,” said Denis of their fourth place finish in the grand prix.
New stalllion for Denis Lynch: Vistogrand
Denis now runs the very successful Elite Stallions and recently bought the nine-year-old top class stallion Vistogrand from Shane Breen. Carron Nicol bred Vistogrand in Great Britain by her grand prix stallion Fantaland out of her Mr Visto mare Vistolano.
“He looks like a big, classical horse and again has a very interesting pedigree – it’s not a pedigree that’s really about in Europe and I think he looks like he has the makings of a really good sire, which again is the thought behind it,” says Denis.
“They have to be good competition horses, but the goal for Vistogrand is also hopefully to make a good sire. But he’s a super horse, mentally very kind, I’m delighted with him,” he adds, having also finished in the money at the London International with the 10-year-old Cornet Obolensky stallion Cornets Iberio.
“A lot of horses like him missed their nine-year-old year because of the pandemic so they didn’t get that many outings, so he was very good and he is a very interesting stallion. We’re trying to build the next generation.”
You might also be interested in:
‘To actually win here is unbelievable’: home rider celebrates epic victory in London grand prix
Teenage Derby horses, Holly Smith, and a son of the great Hickstead: who won showjumping ribbons at the weekend?
Cristello: the showjumper with an eye on the Olympics and a will to win *H&H Plus*
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