At Jumping Amsterdam, Carambole will say farewell to the sport on the Saturday evening of the Grand Prix. A well-timed moment, as the farewell takes place eight years after Willem Greve and the Holstein stallion spectacularly won the Grand Prix of Amsterdam. 

Carambole’s last appearance dates back to October 2021, when the KWPN-approved Cassini son made a phenomenal contribution to Team NL’s victory in the Nations Cup final in Barcelona. “After that important clear round in Barcelona, I also knew right away that this would be the end of his jumping career,” Willem Greve said. “He had given me everything and I had the feeling that I could not ask more of him. It actually couldn’t have been more beautiful.”

“Only then came the covid period. For a while there was talk of him saying goodbye at The Dutch Masters, but Anky van Grunsven said: you should wait another year and do it in Amsterdam. She was right about that. It was a boy’s dream to win the Grand Prix here. Carom deserves a nice podium. And in my eyes there is no more beautiful stage than Jumping Amsterdam.”

Strong band

Carambole played a starring role in Willem Greves journey to the top of the show jumping sport. “I’ve been riding him since he was three, he knows me through and through and vice versa as well. Our bond is tremendously strong. Carom has made my dreams come true and opened doors. He brought people together: my father who found him in Germany, the Korbeld family who took him over and left him with me. They are not just owners, they are friends, with whom you have a bond for life. And Carambole accomplished all that.”

“Carambole can’t talk, but he tells a lot,” Greve describes his bond with Carambole. “I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to experience him. He is my comrade in arms, he knows when it is important and then he is there for me.”

Willem Greve is not afraid of the emotions that will undoubtedly accompany Saturday night’s farewell. “I hope that people will continue to remember him and that also this moment of farewell will remain with them. Then we will have had a great evening.”

READ MORE