TELSTAR JM TN

Ermitage Kalone x Muscaradis d’Ariel

Telstar is a very promising son of top talent Ermitage Kalone out of the legendary damline of Opaline des Pins. Telstar was approved by KWPN in 2023 and earned a great score of 83.5 points. This makes Telstar the first KWPN approved son of the reigning Belgian champion Ermitage Kalone. Ridden by Gilles Thomas, Ermitage Kalone is without doubt Belgium’s most talked-about stallion and everything seems to be in place to guide the Catoki son towards the Paris Olympics. 

Telstar himself stood out in the KWPN performance test, having already stood out in the young horse classes as a 4-year-old. With his fantastic attitude, good balance and rideability, his jumping talents stand out even more. Telstar has the rare combination of enormous scope with reflexes and technique. Consequently, he scored 8.5’s for all jumping sections in the performance test. 

Telstar’s damline has been among the very best in the world for decades. His fourth dam is the legendary Opaline de Pins. She is still the only mare to have produced three Olympic showjumpers: Jus de Pomme, Quintus and Tresor d’Opaline. In addition, Opaline des Pins produced a total of five 1.60m showjumpers and five approved stallions, including the very influential Richebourg and Shogoun II. Her most famous son is of course the aforementioned Jus de Pomme – individual and team gold at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Telstar’s damline has also brought numerous successful horses in recent years. A fine example is O’Bailey van het Brouwershof N.O.P.; one of Maikel van der Vleuten’s top horses and reigning Dutch champion. 

With his enormous jumping talent and outstanding pedigree, the 2019-born Telstar is a very interesting addition to Team Nijhof’s stallion string. The KWPN and AES approved stallion brings the best of Belgium and France to the Netherlands.