Christopher Hector and Gemma Alexander consider the question…

Recently we looked at the question of whether the star showjumpers were more likely to be out of mares that were themselves stars in the competition arena, or were non-competing mares more likely to produce the goods. We saw that even two top breeders had diametrically opposing views, Jan Greve feels that mares can’t successfully hold down two jobs, while Joris de Brabander argues that the best jumping competition mares will produce the best jumpers. In the end we found that the figures did not ‘prove’ one way or the other – there are great jumpers out of mares that have never competed, and there are also great jumpers out of competition stars, although it should be noted that some of the greatest competition mares never produced anything of note in their second career. There did seem to be a slight tendency of recent times for more competitors out of competitors, which may say something about the switch in Warmblood breeding over the past 30 years, a switch that sees greater emphasis placed on competition results for both sire and dam…

Back in 2008, Sporthorse Breeding Magazine compiled a list of what they saw as the top mare families.
# 1 is Holsteiner stamm 776 and the families of Ramiro, Locarno, Promised Land, Acorado, Landos and Calvados I & II contributed to this #1 ranking.

Ramiro – the star for 776

#2 is KWPN stamm 020 (Emmerton, Mac Kinley, Modesto & Cavalier)
#3 is KWPN stamm 114 (Looping , Okidoki & Vancouver d’Auvray)
#4 is Holsteiner stamm 18b1 (Common Sense, Lapacco, Farn, Quantum, Lagos, Constant, Roman & Ronald )
#5 is KWPN stamm 006 (Cycarlos LZ, Nairobi & Mr Blue )
#6 is Holsteiner stamm 162 (Coster, Carthago, Non Stop, Feinschnitt I, Cascavelle, Lacros & Stanley)
#7 is Holsteiner stamm 18a2 ( Calle Cool, Castella, Chambertin, Calvadur, Chamonix, Komeet & Marmor)
#8 is KWPN 093 (Kalusha, Oranta & Renville)
#9 is Holsteiner stamm 741 (Calira , Olli-Pop & Leandro)
#9 is SF stamm 42 (Ideo du Thot, Kingly du Reverdy & Elf d’Or)
# 11 is Holsteiner stamm 1298 (Chupa Chup, Emilion & Lord )
#12 is KWPN stamm 002 (Darco & Arko III)
#13 is Holsteiner stamm 5401 (Leconte , Prima Vera & Fernando)
#14 is Holsteiner stamm 104a (Corradina , Corland , Celano , Landetto & Carneval)
# T-15 is BWP stamm 42 ( Utopia & Vigo d’Arsouilles)
#T-15 is Hannoverian stamm 763 ( Sham & Tresor)
# T-15 is Holsteiner stamm 6372 ( Concept & Lambrasco)
# T-15 is Holsteiner stamm 890 ( Casall & Conally)
# T-15 is KWPN stamm 022 ( Casadora & Paloma)
# T-15 is KWPN stamm 106 ( Authentic & Olinda)
# T-15 is KWPN stamm 203 (Ever Mury Marais Z & Sherry Mury Marais Z)
# 22 is Holsteiner stamm 6893 (Cash 51 & Concerto II)
#23 is SF stamm 7 (Quidam de Revel & Uriel)
#24 is SF stamm 2 (Koro d’Or & Papillon Rouge)
#25 is Holsteiner stamm 7299 (Lord Louis & Indoctro)

Now I realise full well that serious commentators, like Tom Reed of Morningside, question the methodology of this selection, pointing out that there is no control for the number of the progeny and therefore the proportional success rate, but there can be no question that these are influential mare families – the ‘best’? Well that might be a little like the search for the Holy Grail, but they will do as a starting spot.

next we look at last years Top 25

Let’s look at last year’s top 25 jumpers as recorded on the WBFSH final standings, did they come from one of these famous families?

World number one: Halifax van het Kluizebos

Number one last year was the stallion, Halifax van het Kluizebos, by Heartbreaker and out of a Fetiche du Pas mare, Dalida vd Heffinck. Dalida has no competition results, but she produced seven foals between 2007 and 2018, Halifax, her first foal, is the only competitor so far. It is when we come to the 2nd dam, Ovanna de Heffinck (Darco) that we find black type in abundance: Ovanna’s 1996 daughter Tifanie, bred to Clinton, produced Adonis vd Silverhoeve, who jumped 1.60. Bred to Clinton the next year, Ovanna foaled another 1.60 jumper, the stallion, Upsilon vd Heffinck, and the following year, again with Clinton, another 1.60 jumper, Versace. By now, I guess the studmaster has got the message, and he is sticking with Clinton – not surprising since Clinton had been sent to the breeder, Hubert Hamerlink of the Van de Heffinck Stud in Belgian, by Clinton’s owner, Henk Nijhoff who thought the stallion would have a better chance of being licensed in Belgium than Holland. In 1999, the cross produces the brood mare, Wiewe vd Heffinck. In 2007, Wiewe foals Halifax vd Heffinck (H&M Cabrio vd Heffinck)  who jumped 1.50, and in 2013, the 1.25 competitor, Magic Star vd Eedthoek (by H&M Zilverstar).

By the time we get to the 3rd dam, it is getting a little like one of those nineteenth century novels where the list of characters is so long there is an index of names to help you find your way. Havanna vd Heffinck, born 1984, by Furioso Z (Furioso II / Gotthard) out of a Siegfried mare, had eleven foals, five brood mares who in turn produced 32 foals. Havanna’s most successful competitor was the Darco stallion, Quiro vd Heffinck who jumped 1.50.

The 4th dam is Winnette vd Heffinck (by Siefried out of a mare by the Selle Français stallion, Ut Fata), she did not produce a competitor, but her daughters, and grand-daughters, certainly did. Winnette’s first foal, Dinnette – F vd Heffinck (Feischnitt II) in her fourth season produced Kinnette vd Heffinck (Pachat II) who is the dam of three 1.60 competitors: Quelle Homme vd Heffinck (Quidam de Revel), Souvenir vd Heffinck (Heartbreaker), and another Heartbreaker, CP Aprilla.

CP Aprilla and Sharon Slater

Dinette in turn produced Quinette (Heartbreaker) who produced the 1.50 jumper, Baileys vd Vijf  Eiken (by Tresor). Bred to PKZ Contact vd Heffink, she foaled the 1.60 jumper, Grand Cru vd Vijf Eiken.

Bred to Randel Z, Winnette produced Ginette in 1990, she in turn is the dam of the 1.60 jumper, Quelle Dame vd Heffinck (Quidam de Revel) who jumped 1.60, as well as two 1.50, one 1.45 and two 1.40 jumpers.

Winnette’s 1992 foal, Papillon van’t Schorre (Feinschitt I vd Richter) produced the 1.60 jumper Boomerang vh Kluizebos (by Clinton) who jumped 1.60 successfully in Brazil.

Papillon’s full sister from the following year, Quinette van’t Schorre, bred to Clinton, foaled Waikiki vh Kluizebos who jumped 1.50 with Dirk Demeersman.

more follows

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Balou du Rouet

Chacoon Blue

All this would seem to establish fairly firmly that the really good jumpers come from top mare families, but be warned success is far from inevitable. Even with a mare line as successful as this one, where we have looked at four mares, who between them had 37 foals, and then 106 grand children, with a further 21 great grand children appearing on the hippomundo performance pedigree, success is not overwhelming.

Out of those 164 horses, 39 competed at an international level of 1.25 or better – with just nine competing at the magic 1.60. That is a percentage of 5.5 that made it to the highest international level, and really Halifax is the only super star! Remember too, that we have been looking at the Quinette Ut mare line, the most famous line of Belgian master breeder, Hubert Hamerlink, whose experience meant that the matings were expertly planned.

First place at one of the great GP – Aachen – for Marcus Ehning and Prêt a Tout

It is also salutary to glance in the direction of this year’s winner of the prestigious Grand Prix of Aachen, Prêt A Tout. The gelding is arguably the worst bred super star on the international scene. According to Arnaud Evain, Prêt a Tout is far and away the best son of Hiram Chambertin – indeed he really is the only decent product. There is one other on the hippomundo database, the 1.45 mare, Ortis de la Bresse (Prince du Domaine). Arnaud sums it up – ‘the mare line has not produced anything remarkable, or even good, so luck, once again, is the winner in the progression of the genes.’

Halifax is from the BWP mare line 13, not one of our famous families list.

Second placed, Clooney (Cornet Obolensky / Ferragamo) is from the Hanoverian stutenstamm 3193604, or on Claus Schridde’s family categorisation, 1015.

Third, Don VHP Z (Diamant de Sémilly / Voltaire) from the Dutch Merrielijn 83 / fokfamilies 283.

Once again, my friend Huub van Aert helps me understand why there are more than one set of numbers. ‘In The Netherlands, there are two numberings. The fokfamilies, introduced by Joan van Gorkum in his series of books, Prestatie Families while the NL Merrielijnen categories were introduced by Jac Remijnse in his book, The Leading Mares of The Netherlands. Then you have the Belgian prestie families introduced by Jo de Roo.’ Thanks Huub…

Fourth, Gancia de Muze (Malito de Rêve / Nimmerdor) Merrielijn 190 / fokfamilies 400.

G & C Arrayan (Baloubet du Rouet / Grannus) doesn’t have a mare family reference, while HH Azur is from Merrielijn 166 / fokfamilies 2012. Eldorado van het Vijverhof (Thunder vd Zuuthoeve / Omar) Merrielijn 34 / fokfamilies 376. Gazelle (Kashmr van Schuttershof / Indoctro) Merrielijn 89 / fokfamilies 44.

Creedance (Lord Z / Notaris) fokfamilies 527. Royce (Cafe au Lait / Grandilot) Hanoverian stutenstamm 2188403, or Schridde’s 711. Fine Lady (Forsyth / Drosselklang II) Hanoverian stutenstamm 4192101, or Schridde’s 480. The Swedish bred Ohlala (Orlando / Cardento) doesn’t seem to have a family, while Chesall Zimequest (Casall / Concerto) is from the Holsteiner stamm 1120. Babylotte (Dollar du Maurier / Concorde) is another orphan. Breitling LS (Quintero / Accord II) is Holsteiner stamm 2151. Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili (Berlin / Darco) Selle Français 74, Cuplandra (Uprade / Metall) Merrielijn 51 / fokfamilies 212. All Star (Argentinus / Almé) Hanoverian stutenstamm 3194601 or Schridde’s 1039.

And finally in twentieth place, Garfield de Tiji des Templiers (Quasimodo Z / Goldspring de Lauzelle) Hanoverian stutenstamm 1192912 or Schridde’s 1002.

Fritz Ligges and Ramiro

Okay so we have found none of the world’s top families in our top 25 list, let’s go the other way, let’s look at this Number One Mare Family in the World – the Holsteiner stamm 776. The family’s main claim to fame, indeed almost its only claim to real fame, is Ramiro. The stallion jumped Grand Prix, and produced a superstar jumper in Ratina. Ramiro was bred to many mares, and many really top mares, so his name does show up on the mare side of a number of good horses, but really given his opportunities, he does not seem to have had the lasting influence of the other great stallion of the time at Zangersheide, Almé, who has been a real stallion maker, not to mention, sire of many top competitors.

Valine H by the Thoroughbred Cottage Son – dam of Ramiro

The other horse cited by Sporthorse magazine, Locarno (Lord Calidos / Romino) produced three 1.60 competitors, but they were, like their sire, bit players in the big sport. Really the same goes for all the ‘stars’ cited in the Sporthorse magazine list. Claus Schridde’s reference book, Holsteiner Stutenstämme was published in 2008, and although there are seven pages devoted to Stamm 776, the list of international jumpers produced from this family is a pretty motley crew: Cornwall W (Caretino / Lord), Tatjana (Lorenz / Moltke), Graf Rasputin (Ronald / Excellenz), Ibiza (Acord II / Landgraf), Leandra (Landgraf / Ramiro), Black Incipit (Wiesenferdl / Ronald) and the aforementioned Locarno. The stamm seems most famous for producing licensed stallions who really didn’t produce anything very interesting…

One of the famous mares of Stamm 776, Aktie. She was awarded premium status at regional shows and also at the DLG in 1927. In 1939, she won with her family the state challenge trophy.

Last article set out to resolve competitor or brood mare, and ended up on both sides of the fence, I’m afraid this one produces a similar muddle. Yes, the top horses of the day tend to have lots of black type on their pedigrees, but they don’t seem to be neatly arranged in numbered mare families…

Over to our resident numbers cruncher, Gemma Alexander of Pacificjumpingbreeding.com to see what light the stats throw on the subject:

And yet another way to look at the argument: how many of the mares in the current top 100 rankings have had foals? And how many of these foals have gone on to have success in the competition arena?

A quick browse on Horsetelex shows that there are 28 mares in the current top 100 jumping horses (based on earnings; really, the ranking system used is irrelevant, we just want a list of the top competing mares!).

Number one mare, Gazelle with Kent Farrington (Stefano Grasso / LGCT)

Number one on the list is Gazelle (Kashmir van Schuttershof x Indoctro); Gazelle has three foals recorded: Jess (Darco, 2009), King Kong (Darco, 2010) and Ninja JW van de Moerhoeve (Elvis ter Putte, 2013). The only one of these three to have a competition record is King Kong, whose best result to date is a 28^thplacing in a 2* 1.45m class.

Number two is HH Azur (Thunder van de Zuuthoeve x Sir Lui), no recorded foals.

Third-ranked is the wonderful little Fit for Fun 13 (For Pleasure x Fabriano). ‘Fitty’ has had two foals, Camargo 2 (Canturo, 2008) and Champ of Fun (C-Trenton Z, 2009). Camargo 2 has just stepped up to the big classes with Luciana Diniz, their best result to-date being a 14^thplace in a 1.60m class at the recent CSIO5* in Budapest.

Number four in the rankings is Gancia de Muze (Malito de Reve x Nimmerdor). Gancia has one foal recorded, Louise van het Dalemhof (Nabab de Reve, 2011), no competition record to-date.

Coree, fifth on the list and a winner at Aachen, and dam of nine foals

Fifth is Coree de Hus (Cornet Obolensky x Liberty Life) who in conjunction with having a hectic competition career has also managed to produce NINE foals: Feeling de Hus Z (For Hero, 2010), Vodka de Hus Z (Vivaldi du Seigneur, 2010), Congo de Hus Z (Churchill de Hus, 2011), Firenze de Hus Z (Ferron, 2011), Calvi de Hus Z (Caligula de Hus, 2012), Pacha de Hus Z (Pilot de Hus, 2012), Centurion de Hus (Ulixe, 2012), Verdi de Hus Z (Vivaldi du Seigneur, 2013), and Extase de Hus (Numero Uno, 2014). The wonders of Embryo Transfer! Of these nine, three have competition records: Feeling de Hus Z’s best result is a 5^thin a Young Horse 1.40m, Vodka de Hus Z’s is a 27^thplace in a 3* 1.40m class, and Firenze de Hus Z’s best result is a 6^thin a Young Horse 1.40m.

The next highest-ranked mare is Mary Lou 194 (Montendro I x Portland L), coming in at 7^th; Mary Lou has no offspring recorded.

Number eight is Eric Lamaze’s Fine Lady 5 (Forsyth x Drosselklang II). Fine Lady has one foal recorded, Corny Star by Cornet’s Stern (2010), no competition record.

The next two highest-ranked mares are Cita (Casall x Pik Ramiro, 14^th) and California (L’Esprit x Libero H, 17^th), neither of whom have offspring recorded.

Number 18 is Ursula XII (Ahorn x Papageno), who has one foal: Ashton Dollipierre (Dollar de la Pierre, 2005). Her best result to-date is a 2^ndplace in a 2* 1.35m class.

The next five highest ranked mares are all foal-less: 20^th-ranked Suma’s Zorro (Douglas x Horos xx), 27^th-ranked Bianca (Balou du Rouet x Cardento), 33^rd-ranked Lizziemary (Cabri d’Elle x Acord II), 36^th-ranked DSP Alice (Askari x Landrebell) and 45^th-ranked Ohlala (Orlando x Cardento).

Number 48 on the rankings is H&M Legend of Love (Landzauber x Corgraf), who is a mother of one: Child of Love 3 by Chilli Willi (2012), who has no competition results on record to-date.

Again, the next nine highest-ranked mares have no offspring on record: 55^th Twentytwo des Biches (Mylord Carthago x Kalor du Bocage), 57^th Molly Malone V (Kannan x Cavalier), 58^th Fair Light van’t Heike (Vigo D’Arsouilles x Darco), 60^th Hannah (Dulf van den Bisschop x Kashmir van Schuttershof), 70^th VDL Groep Arera C (Indoctro x Voltaire), 73^rd Cuplandra (Upgrade x Metall), 80^th Clinta (Clinton x Lord Pezi), 81^st Claire Z (Clearway x Coronado) and 83^rd Dsarie (Veron x Ahorn).

92^nd ranked Babylotte (Dollar du Murier x Concorde) has had two foals: Waylotte DDH Z (Wolisco, 2010) and Karlotte DDH (Emerald van’t Ruytershof, 2015). While Karlotte DDH is too young to have a competition record, Waylotte DDH Z has a best result to-date of a 5^thplace in a 1* 1.40m class.

Number 95 on the rankings is the sensational Cristalline (Cristallo I x Caretello B), who rose to fame under Australian jockeys Chris Chugg and Gabi Kuna. Before being sold to American young-gun, Adrienne Sternlicht after a stellar performance in the World Cup Final in 2016, Cristalline had two foals in Australia: Cristacon and Glenara KG Cinderella, both by Conquistador (Clinton x Heartbreaker). Neither have a competition record to date. 

The sensational Cristalline with Adrienne Sternlicht

The final mare in the current top 100 is Sydney une Prince (Baloubet du Rouet x Alfa d’Elle) coming in at number 97; Sydney has no recorded offspring.

So what we have found is that nine of the 28 mares in the current top 100 rankings have already had a foal – 32%, not an insignificant number! These nine mares have had 22 foals between them. Seven of these 22 foals have competition results in classes of at least 1.35m to date, with one already placing at the 1.60m level. Given the relatively young age of most of these offspring, these are fairly convincing results. I think this has me leaning more towards the de Brabander argument that mares can be both successful competitors and successful progenitors, aided of course by that wonderful modern invention of embryo transfer!

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