Turbo Z: first World Cup, first victory

The first World Cup of the new season 20-21 promptly goes on record in the history books. It’s not often that a debutante makes off with the victory. It happened to Turbo Z (Thunder vd Zuuthoeve) and Kevin Jochems (26) in Oslo on Sunday. For Turbo Z as well as Jochems this was their first World Cup. For starters they rode an immaculate first round. Seven of them were through to the jump-off where Turbo Z was the last to come into action. Christian Kukuk (Cecker, Comme Il Faut) was the second-last rider in the arena and showed them the fastest route. Not without risk though, Kukuk exited with four penalties. But he had plotted the perfect line and Kevin Jochems was prepared to take all risks. Turbo Z followed his rider and managed to stay clean. He wins with over one and a half-second lead over Pieter Clemens (Hulde G, Vigo D’Arsouilles) from Jos Lansink’s Stables.

Turbo Z was bred and is still owned by Wijnand Van Stam. ‘Fantastic, isn’t it!? I’m a hobby breeder, I can’t earn a living with it (smiles). Every year I breed some five foals and Turbo Z is the third generation that was born in my yard. I have bred horses from that line with stallions like Taloubet Z and Aganix du Seigneur Z. It all started with a Heidelberg mare which I bought in 1975. Paired to Nimmerdor she gave Cinini, granddam to Turbo Z. I combined her with Renville and that resulted in Gicini, who is Turbo Z’s dam. Because she’s fairly small standing at just 1.61m, my veterinarian Bart Veldeman advised to use Thunder vd Zuuthoeve as a sire and that worked out well. Turbo Z never stood out as a foal or youngster. Luckily, I’m never in a rush with horses. I entrusted him to Michael Greeve when he was a 5-year-old and he achieved fine results with him. Early last year Turbo Z went to Kevin Jochems. I have already bred a few very fine offspring by Turbo Z, so I’m a happy man.’