Who’s who in the dressage classes at the Bundeschampionate?

Christopher Hector crunches the numbers…

FIVE YEAR OLDS

Looking at the horses that were entered for the five-year-old dressage class at the Bundeschampionate, we see yet again the influence of the great Westfalen stallion, Florestan (Fidelio / Rheingold) who died back in 2012. His sire, Fidelio was a son of the French import, Furioso II. How amazing that while Germans still say, French horses can’t do dressage, this Selle Français had such a powerful effect in his new home in Germany, particularly on the modern dressage horse.

Florestan’s ‘F’ line accounts for 16 of the 67 entrants that have come through the tough German qualifying system.

Florestan still enjoyed the stallion parade in his later years

The stallion in this group with the most representatives is Fürstenball with six. Fürstenball is himself a previous winner at the Bundeschampionate, and is by World Young Dressage Horse champion, Fürst Heinrich (Florestan / Donnerhall) – but he is also from one of the most famous mare lines in Oldenburg – the chestnut line of George Sieverding. This line descends from a Selle Français mare, Mexicane (by Mexico, a full brother to Furioso II), Mr Sieverding purchased in France when traveling with another great breeder, Georg Vorwerk, who was the man who discovered and imported Furioso II. Mexicane was bred to the Thoroughbred, Shikampur, and the daughter, Mon Amour to the influential Hanoverian, Weltmeister, to produce Maureen, who bred to the Holstein stallion, Classiker (Calypso II) produced Marella, who bred to Donnerhall, produced Maradita, the dam of Seiger Hit (by Sandro Hit and a champion in Denmark) and her full sister, Maradonna, the dam of Fürstenball.

Fürstenball

Fidertanz II, by the Florestan son, Fidermark out of a Ravallo mare, is the next best represented with four, while the son of twice World Young Horse champion, Florencio, Floriscount (out of a Donnerhall mare), accounts for two.

The next most represented is the S line of Sandro Hit (Sandro Song / Ramino) with 12, three of these are by Sandro Hit himself, four by his Bundeschampion son, Sir Donnerhall (out of a Donnerhall mare) and two by his son, San Amour (Plaisir d’Amour).

There are nine representatives of the D line, with Dancier (De Niro / Lancier) accounting for three.

Belissimo

The B line of the three quarter Thoroughbred, Bolero is well represented with his Grand Prix grandson, Belissimo (Romadour II) producing five.

Bonifatius (Belissimo / Lauries Crusador xx) who was briefly flavor of the month in Hanover, has two.

 SIX YEAR OLDS

In the six-year-old class, there are eight from over the border – has the Dutch invasion begun?

Bordeaux, who is by United (Krack C / Partout – two of Anky’s Grand Prix rides) out of a Gribaldi / Donnerhall mare, has three, while Vivaldi (Krack C / Jazz), Blue Hors Zack (Rousseau / Jazz) and Ampère (Rousseau / Flemmingh) each have one. Gribaldi (Kostalany / Ibikus) who was born in Germany, but stood in Holland, has one, as does his son, Totilas, (Glendale).

Bordeaux

There is even a representative of the stallion the German FN anointed with the highest dressage breeding index in the land last year, Lissaro (Lissabon / Matcho aa). When I scoffed at this ranking, there were a couple of readers who suggested that I didn’t really understand breeding indices – I note that Lissaro has now been sold as a young rider’s competition horse. It seems the market is not impressed with the numbers that come out of Warendorf.

Ampère

The ‘S’ line of Sandro Hit is responsible for seven qualifiers, three of these by the Sandro Hit son, San Amour.

The ‘L’ line of Lanciano (Landino / Pilot) is strong, through his grandson, Lord Loxley (Lord Sinclair / Weltmeyer) who has three, while his sons, L’Espoir (Warkant) and Lord Fantastic (Roncalli), each have one.

Lord Loxley

There are seven Bs – six from Belissimo, one from Bonifatius. Six Ds, two by the Don Schufro son, Don Romantic and six Fs – two by Bundeschamp star, Fürst Romancier (Fürst Heinrich / Romancier).

The first heat of the six-year-olds was won by Deluxe by the Don Primero son, Don Primus (Sandro Hit), out of a mare by the Weltmeyer son, Wolkentanz II. Deluxe was the only D in the first group, but in the second heat, Don Toyamo (Don Romantic / Sandro Hit) placed second. This meant that the average movement scores for the D line goes: trot – 8.5, walk – 8, canter – 8.5, rideability – 8.25, impression – 8.75.

There were three representatives of the F line that finished in the top 18 out of the two heats, to make their way to the final. The highest scoring of these was Fusion OLD (Fürst Romancier / Sion) from the mighty Schockemöhle stable – he finished second in the first heat. The average movement scores for the F line were: trot – 8, walk – 7.83, canter – 8, rideability – 7.66, impression – 8.16.

The three representatives of the L line that went on to the final, averaged 7.83 for trot, 8.16 for walk, 7.66 for canter, 7.5 for rideability and 8 for impression. All three trace to young horse star, Lord Loxley (Lord Sinclair / Weltmeyer) – one by him and two by his sons, L’Espoir and Lord Fantastic.

Two of the R line (that’s Ramiro – not Rubinstein) made the cut. They averaged 7.75 for trot, walk – 8.5, canter – 8, rideability – 7.75, impression – 8.

The winner of the second heat was FBW Solitär by Sir Sandro out of a Disco-Tänzer mare. Sir Sandro is by Sandro Hit out of a Weltmeyer mare.

Sir Sandro

Two from the S line in the top 18 averaged 8 for trot, 8 for walk (it seems the breeders are working out how to counter that awful Sandro Hit walk), 8 for canter, 8 for rideability and 8.25 for impression.

The Trakehner stallion, Imperio (Connery / Balfour xx) who is one young horse star who has gone on to Grand Prix success with Hubertus Schmidt, put two into the final with averages of 8.25, 7.25, 7.75, 7.75 and 8.

Two of the Dutch bred horses made the cut – Bluetooth (Bordeaux / Riccione) finished in 3rd on a score of 8.2, while Zalando (Blue Hors Zack / Sunny Boy) was equal sixth in his heat on 7.8.

In the first qualifier for the five-year-olds, the winner was Daytona Platinum, a stallion by Dante Weltino, out of a Charon mare. Dante Weltino is by the De Niro son, Danone (who is out of a Weltmeyer mare) out of a mare by the most successful son of Weltmeyer, Welt Hit II, with a touch of Thoroughbred on the bottom line – Noble Roi xx. Daytona Platinum is out of Greta, a mare of largely jumping breeding – she was by Charon (Cor de la Bryère line) out of a mare by Argentinus, with again, a touch of blood on the bottom line, Barsoi xx.

Dante Weltino

There were two more D’s to make the finals cut and both by Dancier. Dancier is by De Niro, out of a mare by the Lauries Crusador xx son, Lancier, with the solid jumping blood of Espri on the bottom line.

The D’s averaged 8.33 for trot, 8.5 for walk, 8.16 for canter, 8.03 for rideability, and 8.66 for impression – although it should be noted that the Dante Weltino scored way better than the two Danciers: 9 – 8.5 – 9 – 8.5 – 9.5.

Dancier

Second in the first heat was another stallion, Luiz Gastavo 2 ridden by the next big star in dressage, if she gets her chance, Beatrice Buchwald. This horse is by Lord Carnaby out of a Fidertanz mare. Lord Carnaby won the 6-year-old title at the Bundeschampionate with Beatrice back in 2013. Once again, he proves that a bit of jumping blood doesn’t hurt in a dressage sire, he is by Lord Loxley, but out of a mare who is by the Ramiro son, Rocket Star out of a Pilot mare.

Another by Lord Carnaby made the cut, Lady Carnaby (Ehrentusch). Their average scores were trot – 8.25, walk – 8, canter – 8, rideability – 8.75 and impression 8.5.

The S line sent four through to the final, two by Sandro Hit himself, and one by Sir Donnerhall and one by his son Silbermond (out of a Ramiro’s Son / Matcho aa mare). The S’s averaged 8.25 for the trot, and 8.125 for the walk (and this was pulled down by the Silbermond, who scored 7, the Sandro Hits scored 8.5 and 9!). 8.37 for canter, 7.75 for rideability and 8.37 for impression.

There are three Belissimos and one by his son, Bonifatius through to the final, and one by a son of Brentano II, Benetton Dream, and one by Brentano II himself. The Bs averaged 8 for trot, 8.16 for walk, 8.25 for canter, 7.66 for rideability and 8.16 for impression.

Five F’s made the cut, three by Fidertanz, one by Floriscount and one by Florencio. The group had an average of 8.3 for trot, 7.8 for walk, 7.8 for canter, 7.9 rideability and 8.2 for impression.

It was in the five-year-old class that the influence from across the border, The Netherlands, was most apparent. The second heat was won by Nymphenburg’s First Ampère (Ampère / Weltruhm) and third in that class was Belucci W bred by the very canny Wolfram Wittig, who put Boston, a very Dutch Dutch stallion, by Jazz out of a Flemmingh / Purioso mare, over a Bismark mare to produce Belucci W. Bismark is the sire of Wolfram’s wonderful GP performer and dressage sire, Breitling.

In the first heat, Ingrid Klimke’s mare, Soma Bay (Vitalis / Real Diamond) was equal 10th. Vitalis, for a young stallion, has had quite an eventful career. Born in Holland, by Vivaldi out of a D-Day mare, Vitalis was reserve champion at the Westfalen licensing, but the KWPN declined to license him, which did not stop him being very popular in Westfalia. He was sold to a rich Danish/American dressage lady, Charlotte Jorst, but seemingly the partnership did not flourish and he popped up back in Germany at the ubiquitous PSI barn.

While we are at PSI, we might note that just out of a spot in the final is the one Totilas in the field, Topas. The young stallion is out of a Sandro Hit mare, and ridden by a Bundeschampionate specialist, Nicole Casper – he scored 8 for trot, 7 for walk, 8 for canter, 8 for rideability and 8 for impression for an overall 7.8. Again the dramatic reduction in Totilas’ fee in Europe – €8000 down to €2,500 – may indicate that the mare owners are smarter than the marketing guys think they are…

Hector, Christopher