1997 163 cm Brown

Breeder: Manfred Birchler

Contendro once again showed what a good sire of eventers he has been at the Luhmülen Horse Trials in June 2021, with three of his progeny in the top ten of the CCI4*.

fisherChipmunk wins the 4* with Michael Jung
photo – Annette Dölger / TGL

Another of the Contendro / Heraldik cross, Cato 60 ridden by Sweden’s Louis Romeike was fourth, and FRH Corrida (out of an Espri mare) was seventh with Andreas Dibowski.

Contendro is one of the most successful sons of the great Contender.

His dam Bravo, when covered by Caretino produced the Zangersheide stallion, Caretano, who competed first with Toni Hassman and then with Jos Lansink. The dam sire, Reichsgraf was a promising Holstein stallion who died after only a couple of seasons. The grand-dam, Ofarim produced two stallion sons, Caballo (by Coriano) who was exported to America, and Conteur (by Contender), a private stallion in Hesse.

Contendro is strongly inbred to the Anglo Arab foundation sire, Ramzes AA through Ramiro with two crosses on his dam line, and then Ramiro again as Contender’s dam sire. There is also a heady dose of Thoroughbred, with Tin Rod xx, Rantzau xx, and two crosses of Ladykiller xx.

Contendro was the winner of the 1999 licensing, and won his performance test at Adelheidsdorf the following year.

His younger brother, Contendro II also won the Holstein licensing and was fourth in his performance test, but a clear winner in the jumping.

In 2004 eleven Contendro I sons were licensed at Verden, Neumünster, Münster-Handorf and Krueth. All told, he now has over 34 licensed stallion sons in the Hanoverian book, including his stand out star, the international showjumper, Codex One.

Codex One (out of a Glückspilz mare) was in the German showjumping team with Christian Ahlman at the London Games, was 12^th at the European Championships in Herning, and in 2013 won the Grand Prix at Hamburg. Codex One has won 1,514,155 Euros! Forty seven horses by Contendro have won more than €15,000, and Codex One is not the only one with massive winnings. Conthendrix is the winner of €834,074; Queen Mary – €395,775 and Holiday by Solitour – €272,516.

fischerChipmunk and Micheal Jung

He is the sire of seven eventers who have won more than €5,000 lead by Michael Jung’s fischerChipmunk FRH with €134,920.

Contendro has been an important source of Contender blood in Hanover, and was initially hailed as a dual purpose sire, however Ludwig Christmann was not convinced of his value as a dressage producer, in his review of the top stallions of the year 2006, he notes:

“The son of Contender – Contendro – is one of the most favoured producers, even though he is still quite young. He won his stallion performance test with exceptional performances and stands at stud at the Breeding Farm, Famos. In the performance test Contendro also received high scores in the dressage index. However, in the case of this stallion, the integrated breed value system of the FN and the Hanoverian breed value estimation do not fully agree. The integrated breed value estimation shows 132 dressage points, heavily influenced by a very positive result with 138 in stallion performance test results – which is not surprising since he already has nine approved sons. The Hanoverian breed value estimation on the other hand shows Contendro as an average producer for dressage with 101 points from 30 evaluated descendants. The canter is a highlight, whereas the walk shows weaknesses. Further developments will show which breed value estimation result comes closest to the true breed value. With respect to his breed value for jumping, both estimations are in agreement: FN 146, Hanover 145 – Contendro belongs in the top five percent of the jumper horse producers.”

Contendro headed the Hanoverian jumping stallion standings in the 2014 stallion book, with a ranking of 158 and again in 2015, although his value had dropped to 156. In 2015 his dressage ranking was 98 and his score for type was 110. His Hanoverian jumping ranking of 154 in the 2016 Stallion Book, has him once again at the top of the Hanoverian jumping stallion rankings, notwithstanding his defection to France.

In the 2021 Hanoverian book, he has 1639 competitors (338 dressage / 1529 jumping / 89 eventing) with €7,385,958 in winnings, with 47 showjumpers earning more than €15,000.

On the 2021 FN values, his young horse jumpers score is 138, highest level achieved, 128, young horse dressage, 108, highest level, 87. His Hanoverian dressage value is 91, his jumping value, 154. He scores 105 for type.

At the end of 2013, Contendro was purchased by the GFE group, and moved to France… while his son, Codex One, with Christian Ahlmann in the saddle, continued to keep his name before the jumping – and breeding – public. In May 2013, Codex One (out of a Glückspilz mare) was the winner of the Global Champions tour leg in Hamburg, in 2014 he won both the Grand Prix of Aachen and Valkenswaard, in 2015 he won Stuttgart 5 star, and in 2016 won the five star GP at Basel, and was 1st at Neumünster 3 star. In 2017, seemingly his last year of competition, he won €168,150, with the highlights second at Valkenswaard and 5th in the Grand Prix of Berlin.

Codex One winning the Grand Prix of Aachen, 2014

On the 2020 WBFSH jumping rankings, Contendro has dropped to 27th place, with Cinsey (For Pleasure) his greatest points earner with 380, to rank 198th in the world