Killer Queen, the ride of world number one Daniel Deusser, showed just how much she enjoys her job in what looked like an effortless round in the Olympic showjumping individual qualifier at the Tokyo Games.
The Belgian-bred 11-year-old by Eldorado Vd Zeshoek produced a polished clear with her ears pricked the whole way as she navigated the course with her German rider. The combination have qualified for the individual final tomorrow (4 August).
“When I entered the ring she was quite excited,” said Daniel.
“It was the first time here in the stadium under the lights. The warm-up is different and the fences are smaller – she knew exactly the warm-up was a warm-up and the competition started today.
“I’m very optimistic and I’m looking forward to the final.”
Daniel explained Killer Queen is a forward-thinking mare who makes jumping big fences feel easy.
“In general she is a little bit aggressive [to the fences]. She always wants to go forward, rarely do I have to push her in the ring – I always have to hold her a little,” he said.
“In a championship or when the fences are getting bigger, normally I would say it’s an advantage for her. She’s very energetic and she wants to go forward. She’s very scopey, she jumps these fences very easily and she doesn’t have to push herself.”
The mare is no stranger to the top of the sport with consistent grand prix placings around the world, including a World Cup win in Mechelen, Belgium, in late 2019. In February 2020 the mare was crowned the FEI’s horse of the month, and at the time Daniel predicted Killer Queen was “a horse for the future”.
Her jumping career began in 2016 under Belgian rider Walter Lelie, who bred her with Ann and Dirk Bruggeman-Carpentier. She won the four-year-old Belgian young horse championship with Walter, then Stephan Conter bought her as a seven-year-old and Daniel took on the ride.
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