There can be little doubt that Margareta Algotsson has been the most successful breeder of Olympic Eventing horses, EVER!
I wanted to know what came first, her two incredibly brilliant eventing daughters, Linda and Sara, or the succession of wonderful eventing horses she bred that the girls got to ride. It turns out that the answer was neither – Margareta was breeding horses for herself to showjump…
“I bought this little mare, Princess Fair for myself to compete with, then when she a little bit older then I bred a foal from her, ten foals she had for me, and now grand children and grand children’s children. She was the beginning of everything. I found her in the south of Sweden, her father was imported from England, he was a Thoroughbred. He was a Swedish Derby winner, they used him for Swedish Warmblood mares, and he had many foals that were very good in showjumping.”
“When I found Princess Fair, she was two years old. I saw her freejumping with her breeder. She was jumping like a cat, that’s a mare I should have, I thought. I had her for showjumping, there was not so much eventing in Sweden in that time, it was mostly showjumping and dressage.”
Sara Algotsson-Ostholt and Wega, silver medal winners at the 2012 Games
When you started to breed with her were you trying to breed eventers?
“No, at the beginning it was for showjumping. I have always used showjumping stallions. She was very much like a Thoroughbred, not so big. All of her foals have been eventers. When my daughters were interested in eventing, that’s where the horses went – they also competed in showjumping, but the girls thought it was much more fun to compete in eventing – more exciting.”
For Margareta’s daughter, Linda, Princess Fair produced the gelding that took her to two WEGs and two Olympic Games, Stand by Me, by Stanford.
(I’ll never forget when the dreaded flying change had been introduced to the eventing test and the riders were all struggling with it, Linda riding Stand by Me around the arena at Badminton, tossing off three times changes…)
Princess Fair also foaled La Fair (Labrador), Linda’s ride at the London Games, and My Fair Lady (Testarossa) who took her to the Aachen WEG.
For Sara, Princess Fair produced Robin des Bois (Robin Z) who took her to the Athens Games, and was the grand-dam of Wega (by Irco Mena out of La Fair) who went within a (last!) rail of winning gold for Sara at London.
Linda Algotsson and Stand By Me
How did you select your stallions?
“They must have rhythm in their movement, but jumping is the most important because they jumping in two of the three things they are doing. I’m not so fond of horses that just move very well, they must have a good jump and they must have self confidence, that they could jump whatever happens. They must be able to think by themselves and make their own decisions.”
In fact, Margareta has used a variety of stallions with Princess Fair: Stanford (Anart / Ravello), the sire of the first mega-star, Stand By Me. He stood at the state stud, Flyinge and was the typical mix that made the Swedish Warmblood a popular all-rounder in the 70’s and 80’s. A mix of Trakehner, Thoroughbred, Hanoverian and Swedish mares, he bred dressage horses, showjumpers and eventers.
Robin des Bois, who was born a year earlier than Stand by Me, was by the successful showjumping sire, Robin Z (Ramiro / Almé). My Fair Lady was by Testarossa (Pasteur / Hartung) a German Trakehner who competed in dressage, while La Fair was by Labrador (Jovial / Pompe), 3/8ths Thoroughbred and the rest traditional Swedish Warmblood.
La Fair was bred to Irco Mena (Irco Marco / Menelek xx) to produce Wega. Irco Mena was a Dutch bred grandson of the influential Trakehner, Marco Polo but with two crosses of the imposing (not to say, tank) Sinaeda. Irco Mena was out of an Irish mare, three quarters Thoroughbred.
Princess Fair was bred to the English Thoroughbred Dalby Jaguar (Sharp Edge xx / Royal Palm xx) to produce Fairlisia, who bred to Cardento (Capitol / Lord) foaled Fairnando in 2005 and with Feliciano (Irco Marco / Utrillo) – who starred for Sweden in the showjumping at the Sydney Olympics – she produced Fairnet in 2006 – the two horses Linda has entered for Rio. 
Linda Algotsson and Be Fair
Margaret’s achievement is so much more impressive when you realise just how few foals she bred…
How many foals did you breed each year?
“Not many, two, three, that’s all. We don’t have such big stables so we can’t have many horses. In Sweden it is cold and we cannot have them outside in the winter.”
Your success is incredible, you must have bred more Olympic eventers than any other person in the world…
“Yes, I think so too. Our horses have always done their job and tried to do the best they could – they have a good head.”
Are you still breeding horses?
“I’m not breeding any more, my youngest horse is now three years. My daughters breed now. Sara, who lives in Germany has one of my mares and breeds a lot of horses from that, and Linda also has a mare that she breeds with. I think now they have to take over.”