Eleven pairs made it into the jump-off of the Sparkassen-Youngsters-Cup Final in 2023. In the end a Belgian duo finished ahead of two German pairs.

Jens Baackmann and his eight-year-old Holstein-bred Livello son, Lorenz, were the last pair in the jump-off, who had the chance to challenge Nicola Philippaerts and Pandora van de Kruishoeve for the victory. But that wasn’t to be the case. The time of the Belgian rider and his Belgian warmblood mare was simply unbeatable: 46.56 seconds. Baackmann and Lorenz notched up a time of 47.97 seconds, which meant second place for them. Rene Dittmer and his Westphalian-bred mare, Cavallina by Coupe de Coeur, finished third for Germany. The clock stopped at 48.54 seconds.

Nicola Philippaerts‘ winning horse, Pandora van de Kruishoeve, is a daughter of the KWPN stallion, Cidane (who is a Heartbreaker/Ramiro Z son) out of a dam by Elvis ter Putte-Clinton. She has been with the Philippaerts family since she was a six-year-old, i.e. for around two years. She has competed at shows under both Nicola and their employed professional rider Stijn Timmermann, who has done a “fantastic job” training the mare, according to Philippaerts. Among others he himself rode the mare at the World Championships of the Young Jumping Horses last year. But regardless of who is sitting in the saddle, she rarely collects any faults. Philippaerts: “I think she is a very good horse. She has always jumped super, which shows that she is not overwhelmed by such a huge arena like this one at all. So I hope she is going to be a good horse for the future.”