Jadem Arabians

About Frederik

Training Information

“I have always believed in teamwork – a good team is success,” says Christine. “In life you have to cooperate and some people cannot do that. The best deal is if both parties are happy.” That philosophy led her to select Frederik Van Sas as Jadem Arabians’ resident trainer in 2014. He had been working for Frank Spönle in Germany and Ajman Stud in the UAE for several years, and Christine noticed how well Frederik handled the horses. She suggested that he consider returning to his home country, Belgium, and work for her. Eventually, they worked out a deal which made them both happy and excited.

“It’s a great collaboration between us,” Frederik explains. “We both look at horses in different ways. Sometimes we push each other a little bit, she goes one direction, I go another and we meet again both going the same way. We cooperate very well; it is very good teamwork.” According to Frederik, they have developed such a strong connection that they can sometimes read each other’s minds. “She knows my way of thinking,” he says. “And I know hers. We both have good ideas, and we don’t have to be with each other 24 hours a day to trust that.” For example, Frederik saw a very nice filly in Israel that he knew Christine would like for one of their clients. Trusting his judgement, Christine boarded a plane and went to see the filly herself. “She told me, ‘You’re absolutely right. The filly is amazing!’” Frederik related. “We leased the filly – Malikat Al Moluk – with an option to buy for our client Al Khashab Stud from Kuwait. She was Gold Champion Filly and Best in Show in the first three shows we took her to. Now there are four different Middle Eastern breeders who want to buy her, but Mr. Al Khashab has the option, he fell in love with her and decided that her home forever will be at Al Khashab Stud.”

Frederik has no more than 30 horses in training at any one time, preferring to keep a smaller group so that he can personally work with all of them daily, and care for them along with his team. It is also important to him that the horses have a happy life and get to play outside. “I like having a couple of good horses from a few different people and I try to be successful and keep them all happy,” Frederik explains. “I think it’s good to give more people the chance to bring horses to you. It is still the early stages, this is the fifth season now, so it is basically only four years since we started. But it’s working well. I have very good, loyal, clients and so far they are all happy. I have worldwide collection of training horses coming from the U.S., South America,  Europe, Middle East and Asia.”

“Frederik keeps seeking out promising horses to show and sell that will make new clients happy and keep our loyal clients happy as well giving them an opportunity to buy them,” says Christine. “Frederik’s aim is to keep Jadem Arabians well represented each year on a global scale.”

Both Frederik and Christine mention the importance of teamwork and how that is part of the foundation of success that Jadem Arabians enjoys. “I respect Christine a lot and I want to thank her for all the opportunities she gives me,” Frederik says. “And the same for my team; I can count on them. In winter I travel a lot to various shows, but I don’t need to worry. I just call my team to give instructions from time to time. They know how I like it, how the horses should look, how they should be conditioned and prepared for the show season. I go home between the shows, review them, change the feed schedule and feed card, and supervise them. Then in the summer season I am there every day.”

Frederik’s appreciation for Christine and his team is heartfelt. “I have a lot of respect and gratitude for them because they are always there for me,” he said. “The horses are always in the best condition that they can be. They cannot look better. Dr. Gerald manages the farm perfectly. He is a new addition to the team who joined us at fall 2017. The farm is always ready to receive clients. There’s never a panic, ‘oh we need to brush the floor,’ it’s always clean. If tomorrow a client comes and wants to see a broodmare, the horse will be ready, and it will look beautiful. They keep the farm running, the business running. They have my blind trust always. And Christine is a part of the team. Everybody, the vet, the secretary, we all work together like one big family. Behind the dream is a team, and without the team you have nothing.”

Frederik has collected many wins with his training horses, including championship titles at all the major shows, such as the World Championships, European Championship, All Nations Cup, Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi International, PSAIAHF and all the A and B Shows.

“One of the very special wins that I will always look back on with a big smile is the European Championships,” he says. “I competed with five horses, brought home three gold championship medals, one silver championship medal and a top five award. It was a perfect group.”

“Another treasured memory was going to the Middle East with the homebred Gallardo J. It was an adventure, and we won the Gold at both Sharjah and Dubai. A joy!”