Sport Horse Sales 2025

He was the four-legged star of the anniversary auction that Holger Hetzel hosted on the last Wednesday of November at his equestrian center in Goch on the Lower Rhine. The seven-year-old Holsteiner Dior, who had already attracted considerable attention in the show jumping world this year, achieved the top price of the evening with a hammer price of exactly one million euros among the 21 show jumping horses offered. With Holger Hetzel’s head rider, Belgian Laurens Houben, in the saddle, the impressive son of Diamant de Semilly, bred by Friedrich Meyer, secured the inaugural Young Horse of the Year title in his age category. He achieved this distinction thanks to outstanding results at the Tiemeyer x Hetzel Young Horse Masters and at the Al Shira’aa Bundeschampionate in Warendorf. The grey gelding was purchased by Ulli Horrig, a long-time friend and supporter of Holger Hetzel. The second most expensive horse of the auction fell just short of the million-euro mark. This was the Dutch-bred Playboy, a son of Harley VDL, who was sold for €900,000. With a hammer price of €420,000, the ten-year-old Disco Inferno—already successful in international Grand Prix competitions—was the third most expensive lot.

In addition to the 21 show jumping horses, two foals with exquisite jumping pedigrees were also auctioned for charity. An impressive total of €98,000 was raised, which will be donated in full to the RTL foundation “Wir helfen Kindern” (“We Help Children”). Altogether, more than 700 guests from over 50 nations attended the auction event in person. For Holger Hetzel, the entire evening with its gala program and auction was a very emotional occasion: “In these 21 years—apart from 2020, when the auction could not take place due to the coronavirus restrictions—many customers have become long-standing friends, and many friends and colleagues have dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to this event for more than two decades. I am deeply grateful to them and to my entire team.” Asked about the secret behind the auction’s success, Hetzel added: “We truly strive to find only exceptional horses for the auction and to give them the very best training possible. It is also very important to me personally that our clients receive exactly the horses that suit them best.”