1984 – 2014 1.69 Bay/Brown
Breeder: L van Diest, Holland
Concorde is solidly bred to jump on both sides. Aside from his sire, Voltaire, his dam, Flyer, is by the legendary Marco Polo.
Flyer was purchased by the Van Diest family from Mr. Rodenburg, they knew that she was a good mare since they already owned one of her progeny – the successful show-jumper Olympus, by Farn. Flyer earned her keep, working as a Riding School horse as well as a brood mare. Flyer was the full sister to Vivaldi, one of the early Dutch exports to the United States, where he was a star with Melanie Smith and awarded ‘Speed horse of the Year’.
Concorde was purchased as a two year old by Kees van den Oetelaar, who then sold a share in the horse to Team Nijhof.
Concorde was an international jumper with Jos Lansink. They won the Grand Prix of Nordrhein-Westfalen at Aachen and they were Champion of the Netherlands in 1994, and placed 2nd in the Grand Prix of Amsterdam, Darmstadt, Lanaken, Helsinki and Gothenburg.
For three years in a row, Concorde was the sire with the most offspring at the World Breeding Championships for Young Jumping Horses. In the year 2001 alone, Concorde produced 17 jumpers who entered Grand Prix ranks, including Audi’s Jikke, Audi’s Kathja, Conquest II, Larino, Viktor, Jacquet, Humphrey and Isabella. In 2003, three of his progeny qualified to go to Las Vegas for the World Cup final – they were Marius Claudius, Conquest and Viktor.
Henk Nijhof almost sold Concorde one time:
“We nearly sold him to Jean-Claude Vangeenberghe”, Henk Nijhof told Horses International, “We agreed on the money, but we wanted to have some sperm on a yearly basis. Vangeenberghe sr. said: `You want to sell the cow but keep the udder!’ That was the end of that and shortly afterwards Concorde was given the prefix Olympic. The organisation NOP (Nederlands Olympiade Paard) secured Concorde for show-jumping in the Netherlands.”
Nijhof says the stallion had his detractors: “ In Holland we say: ‘tall trees catch a lot of wind’, and Concorde was a tall tree. Initially there was a lot of negative talk about his offspring: they were built on the forehand, did not have enough ability or put out sufficiently. But still, few stallions come close to the same league as him and I know for a fact that many riders and dealers made good money on the offspring of Concorde.”
Nijhof thinks Concorde would still be a successful sire… “Concorde passes on lot of blood and we still need quick, speedy horses. A stallion like Concorde would still be very useful in France and Holstein, where they do have plenty of power and ability. As far as that concerned he was well ahead of his time, although, when it comes to conformation; his offspring could have been a tad more elegant. But that rarely happens, for the best stallion to be the prettiest…”
Concorde was selected as KWPN Horse of the Year in 2004 and was the youngest stallion ever to be awarded “preferent”, due to his exceptional progeny. He already has over thirty licensed sons in the European studbooks, and was one of the first KWPN stallions approved for Holstein. He is also proving a very popular sire in France. Concorde’s most successful stallion son, Namelus R is now standing in France.
In Bernard le Courtois’ ranking of the top 75 jumping stallions of 2006, Concorde finishes in 8th place win 23 international winners.
On the WBFSH standings for 2008, Concorde recorded his highest ranking – 4th – before gradually slipping down the table.
Presley Boy and Khaled Al Eid…
Concorde’s star was once more in the ascendency with the arrival on the scene of the stallion, Presley Boy (out of a Damiro / Amor mare). With Jaime Azcairaga Romandia, he was first at the Calgary five star, in a 1.60 class in 2009, then the following year, the ride was taken over by Khaled Al Eid, who was first in the Gijon Grand Prix, and first in a 1.50 at Wellington. In 2011, the pair won at Calgary two star, and were second at Abu Dhabi*****. Presley Boy and Khaled Al Eir were 12th at the WEG in Lexington. Their last start was in 2012, when they were 22nd at Bonhelden.
Two years after his death, Concorde still ranked highly on the 2015/16 KWPN Breeding Values, taking 18th place on the ranking for stallions with a reliability of over 90%, with a value of 138 (98%). He has produced 2820 progeny over the age of 4, with 1140 competitors, that’s a very fine, 40.425%.
On the 2016/17 KWPN breeding values, Concorde has moved up to 16th with a jumping value of 136 (conformation – 100, free movement – 98, freejumping – 108). He is the sire of 2824 horses over the age of four, with 1145 competitors, that’s 40.54%.
I currently have Jacquet out of Concorde that you have mentioned above when he entered the Grand Prix ranks. Do you have any other information?
Thanks!