Ventago by Van Helsing/Scendix
Year of birth: 2013
Breeder: Stefan Trentelmann, Rastede
Rider: Abdulrahman Alrajhi/KSA
‘Ventago is on fire,’ cheered Abdulrahman Alrajhi when he won the opening class of the Global Champions Tour in Doha/QAT in February this year. “He is such a great horse and I am very happy to have him and I think he made it with almost zero effort… it felt like he was just playing with the class and he won it!” The pair then finished fifth in the Grand Prix with two clear rounds. Just three months earlier, the Hannoveraner and his 29-year-old rider were part of the Saudi Arabian team that won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou/CHN. In addition to Ventago, the team included the two Hannoveranre Untouchable – like Ventago a Van Helsing son – and Skorphults Baloutinue as well as the Rhinelander Cascadello Boy RM. Ventago won the Grand Prix of San Giovanni in Marignano/ITA in mid-July as a prelude to the Olympics. ‘We are ready to make the dreams come true!’ the show jumper wrote on Instagram.
Ventago was born with the potential to become a top show jumper. He was born at Stefan Trentelmann’s place in Rastede. The mechanical engineer is a pure hobby breeder with just one broodmare. But the seven foals that have been born to him so far are quite something.
His first broodmare was the Dorian/Watzmann daughter Doriana, Ventago’s granddam. Stefan Trentelmann rode young horses in Hans Bahr’s stables for a long time. Time and again, offspring of the privately owned stallion Dorian were among them and inspired the rider. He then bought Doriana in the mid-90s. “She was already jumping over the enclosure when she was free-running. You could see then that she could do something,’ remembers Stefan Trentelmann. He is a friend of old blood lines, which he also liked about the mare. Because at the beginning of Doriana’s pedigree is Arma, who was born near Lüchow in 1907 and is therefore a guarantee for the best Hannoverner show jumping genetics. Wiener Domspatz, with whom Dirk Hafemeister, Franke Sloothaak, Ludger Beerbaum and Otto Becker celebrated international success at a young age, is also part of the family, as are Richard Vogel’s Grand Prix horse Cydello and the current winner of the Grand Prix in Falsterbo/SWE, Sandra Auffarth’s Quirici H. In addition, there are the well-known sires Chasseur I and II as well as Wolkentanz I and II.
While Doriana was successful with Stefan Trentelmann in novice and elementary level show jumping competitions – ‘I’m just a hobby rider!’ – she also proved to be a breeding jewel. First a colt was born. Her first filly was St.Pr.St. Scendoria by Scendix, Ventago’s dam. “We saw Stakkato at the gala evening in Verden and knew straight away that we wanted Stakkato blood. We then liked Scendix at the licensing,’ recalls the 54-year-old. Scendoria already demonstrated her outstanding qualities at her mare performance test with a dream score of 10 for scope. In 2012, she was awarded a state premium and a year later, her first foal Ventago was born.
Doriana’s foal number three is the Canstakko son Cambion. He made his way into eventing and took part in the 2022 European Rural Eventing Championships in Lausanne/SUI with Germany’s Elisa Abeck. Because Stefan Trentelmann was enthusiastic about the Valentino/Stakkato son Van Helsing – ‘At his licensing, he was tremendous in free jumping, even before and between the jumps. You could see his intelligence, you need that in sport today!” – he used him not only for Scendoria, but also for her dam Doriana. The result was Valento, who appeared in international sport with British riders – most recently with Donald Whitaker – before coming to Patrick Stühlmeyer, who finished second with him in the Riesenbeck Grand Prix in December last year. Valento almost travelled to the Olympic Games too, at the beginning of the year he was given a Japanese co-owner.
“Ventago was an exceptional foal with a super canter. He was a giant with a somewhat large head,’ remembers Stefan Trentelmann. The foal was quickly sold to a friend. ‘It was a good old-fashioned deal – sealed with several schnapps!’ The bay stayed in Rastede to be reared and was also broken in there. After moving to a training stable and having his first successes in show jumping tests for young horses, Ventago was sold to Ignaz Berger and ridden to top placings by Sven Fehnl and Tim Rieskamp-Goedeking. After second place in the Grand Prix of Frankfurt/GER, the next chapter in the success story was opened and Ventago went to Abdulrahman Alrajhi. And his breeder is delighted that he had the ‘right instinct’ back then with Doriana and that Ventago’s dam is still in his stable.
