Breeding News Stallion Rankings

Christopher Hector analyses this year’s stallion rankings…

Damsey at the Jens Meyer Stallion Show in 2007, now competing at the top, he heads the BN Stallion Rankings…

Unlike the WBFSH sires standings which are calculated on the basis of progeny, the BN standings are based on the stallion’s own results in competition. Once upon a time, this would be considered outright lunacy. The stallion was licensed, passed his performance test, and then was installed in the breeding barn, only emerging on Gala Days to entertain the masses. Not only was competition irrelevant, but – as long-time Celle Director, Dr Burchard Bade pointed out to me – worse, it lessened the quality of the semen.

DRESSAGE STALLIONS

Those days are long gone, and looking at this year’s WBFSH dressage sires rankings, almost half the top ten were serious Grand Prix competitors in their own right: De Niro, Jazz, Johnson and Diamond Hit. So does the reverse hold true, are we likely to find sires in the ranks of the competitors – or are we looking at un-castrated males? Certainly the chances of a congruence are good, every time we look at the results at major championships, overwhelmingly the horses that shine at Grand Prix are the progeny of stallions that competed Grand Prix. Indeed number two on our BN rankings, Glock’s Zonik is out of a Romanov mare, and by number four on the rankings, Blue Hors Zack (Rousseau / Jazz)

Unee BB, a son of Gribaldi, both Grand Prix competitors

I find it somewhat surprising that of the top ten BN stallions, only three – Glock’s Zonik, Unee BB and Delatio are by Grand Prix competitors, Blue Hors Zack, Gribaldi and De Niro.

Damsey placing at the 2019 World Cup in Gothenburg with Helen Langehagenberg

The standings are headed by Damsey FRH, and again, his breeding is a sign of the times. For a while it was thought that for dressage you needed to breed dressage to dressage, but looking at the top horses of recent times, like Totilas and Valegro, it seems a judicious dose of jumping blood is a positive. So it is with Damsey, on the top line it is very much dressage royalty, Dressage Royal is by Donnerhall out of a Rubinstein mare but the bottom line shouts jump – the dam, Ria Grande is by Rituel, by the showjumper Ramiro out of a mare by the influential Thoroughbred, Der Löwe, the grand-dam is by Grande who belongs to the era before dressage or jumping specialisation became the fashion.

Damsey has been a breeding stallion as well as a competitor for fourteen years, and you would have to conclude that he has been more successful as the latter than the former. While he himself has won €188,675, his 100 progeny to make it to the competition arena have between them collected a mere €31,757, with two of his progeny making it to S level. But look a little closer, and you find that despite his competition success, the stallion has been denied the opportunity to show his worth as a sire.

Competing at the Bundeschampionat in 2007

Like so many top stallions, Damsey FRH was not a success at the licensing, and was in danger of being lost to German dressage – until he was spotted by Hanoverian stallion keeper, Jens Meyer:
“In the licensing, he was not licensed and was sold to The Netherlands. We saw him as a three-year-old, and he was for sale, and we bought him.”

With Jens, any question about the bloodlines, goes straight to the mare line and his encyclopedic knowledge of German mares….

“I knew very well the Ladykiller mare, Praline, his great grand-dam, she competed against me in the junior teams, and she was in the German championship. It was a really brilliant, typey mare.”

Do you think that to breed top competition dressage horses, it helps to have some jumping blood on the mare line?
“We are finding out more and more that for the special sport, for dressage or eventing, that they have to have a ‘sportif’ pedigree. There is no question that jumpers need this blood, but dressage horses too, they need these athletic families. Look at the pedigrees of the new horses – on one side you have fashion pedigrees, and on the other, sport horses. For sport horses you need sportif families, not fashionable ones.”

“When you look at Damsey, here in Hanover he has only 350 foals altogether. They look only for trot, that is for fashion. Three hundred and fifty is nearly nothing – the dressage people do not breed to the older stallions. Last year he covered 17 mares, four of them were mine! It’s really crazy but he is not a foal maker and this is the key.”

Zonik competing for Holland with Edward Gal at the 2018 WEG in Tryon

In a neat bit of keeping it in the stable, Glock’s Voice (De Niro / Rohdiamant) who was second last year disappears following retirement, to be replaced in second by Glock’s Zonik (Blue Hors Zack / Romanov).

This year’s 3rd placegetter, Unee BB (Gribaldi / Dageraad) is another who will disappear, he made his farewells at Frankfurt at the end of last year.

Vivaldi, popular in both Germany and Holland

Flavour of the month in both his native Holland and in Germany, Vivaldi, is represented in the top ten, yet again by Cenin (out of a Donnerhall mare) in seventh place. Just outside the ten is another exciting son of Vivaldi, Glock’s Dream Boy (Ferro), who was not even in the top 50 last year, but has leapt to 11th. In fact, compared to the turnover on the WBFSH Sires Rankings, which is a bit like watching grass grow, the turnover on the BN standings is rapid. Only three of the BN top ten – Damsey, Dante Weltino and Cenin – were there last year.

Glocks Dream Boy, leaping into 11th place with Hans Peter Minderhoud at the World Cup in Gothenburg 

Sanceo is another out of left field, out of the 50 last year to 10th. This stallion again combines dressage and jumping blood, his sire, Wolkentanz I is by Weltmeyer out of a mare by the eventing (three quarter blood) stallion, Volturno, but on the dam’s side we find Ramiro again through Ramiro’s Son II (Juvel) along with the Thoroughbred, Star Regent.
Indeed Sanceo’s three recorded siblings are all by jumpers: Contendro I, Big Star and Vagabond de la Pomme.

Okay these are the current stars of the competition circuit, how many will eventually make their way to the Sires Rankings? Two have already started the long climb – Blue Hors Zack in 33nd, and Damsey at 70th – but there is a long long way to go…

JUMPING STALLIONS

I would suggest we are on safer ground looking for a sire amongst the stallions on the BN Showjumping Stallions rankings, here we find performance backed by performance and in most cases a proven ability to produce top class progeny.

Royce and Margie Engel representing the USA

Royce, the number one on the standings is not exactly crême de la crême in the pedigree department – yes, bad pun, his sire is Café au Lait, his dam, by Grandilot. On the horsetelex database, only one other 1.60m jumper appears by Café au Lait, Winibishi Caloudina (Domino), still one generation back on both sides and it gets fancy – Contender and Grandeur. Café au Lait is ranked 92nd on this year’s WBFSH sires rankings. Royce was bred by Paul Schockemöhle at Lewitz and carries his OS brand. Ridden by Margie Goldstein-Engel, the stallion won $67,000 for a first at Wellington last November, and $100,000 for a second at Sugarties in September.

Margie Engle first noticed the stallion as a seven-year-old in a Grand Prix where he jumped a two-stride combination in one stride – and almost cleared it.

“He has so much ability, more than almost any horse I’ve ever ridden,” Engle said. “He just does it all so easy. Even when he’s jumping, it’s like it’s just fun for him.”

I asked Royce’s breeder, Paul Schockemöhle, what is it about the combination of these bloodlines that makes Royce so successful?
“It´s his great dam line which has already produced some top sport horses. Royce’s father Café au Lait has been a champion stallion by himself as a young stallion, but didn´t produce such a big number of offspring’s in his career. But out of these few offspring, such kind of horses as Royce has been produced shows even more the quality of the blood lines from both sides.”

The Westfalen stallion, Pilot

Can you tell me something about the mare line?
“It has all started with the great dam Paja by Pilot, grandmother of Royce and the gray stallion Caligula / Oleg Krasyuk (UKR). The origins of this Hanoverian mare family lie in Lüneburg, traditionally one of the strongest breeding regions of all. The famous stallion Conductor, the father of the well-known sire Direx, comes from a direct line, whose daughters in many cases – as well as here – were partners of the showjumping legend Pilot. This results in a hidden inbreeding on this dam line. Grandilot for example is another result of this famous line.”

What are the qualities of Royce as a jumper?
“Well, I think he just combines everything what a modern showjumping horse needs: scope, carefulness, super technique, a very good canter together with an unbelievable rideability between the fences for the very sophisticated and technique courses around the world by now. And not the least, a very good mind to fight for his rider.”

Is he one of those horses that are a result rather than a cause – in other words, will he become a good sire after his performance career?
“I am sure – by looking at his superb breeding line – that he is not just “a product of random” and that he will be doing great as a breeding stallion after his career and I wish to have such a stallion like him which I personally breed on my own breeding station afterwards.”

Tobago Z competing at the World Cup Final in Gothenburg 2019 with Daniel Deusser

The second placed horse, Tobago Z is hot right now, with a win in the World Cup in Bordeaux in February, ridden by man of the moment, Daniel Deusser, and he is royally bred. His sire, Tangelo vd Zuuthoeve is a genetic treasure, his sire the great Narcos II, while his dam is by Laudanum xx out of a mare that combines the three great founding sires of Zangersheide: Ramiro, Almé and Gotthard, who never stood at Zangersheide, but who sired many of the foundation mares.

After a competition career with Roelof Bril that seemingly did not include any international placings, since he has no performance record on the normally reliable Show-jumping Archive (www.sja.it), Tangelo settled down to a breeding career at the well-known Dutch stud, De Radstake.

I was lucky enough to catch up with his owners, Johan Venderbosch and his son, André, at the 2010 KWPN Stallion Show, where Tangelo was awarded the title ‘Keur’.

André Venderbosch told me that his family bought Tangelo from his Belgian breeder as a four-year-old:
“He won the Four Year old championship in Belgium, but we bought him before that. He came to Holland and was approved as a five-year-old. His oldest children are now coming eight, and we have several competing in international competition. They are unbelievable jumpers.”

Laudanum, introducing Thoroughbred blood

It is interesting breeding with the Selle Français, Narcos and the Thoroughbred, Laudanum – was that important to you, the Thoroughbred blood?
“Very important to us. In our stud, we also have Thoroughbred in the mother lines, so it is matching.”
What sort of mares do you think Tangelo breeds best with?
“A little bit blood. Not too small mares, 165cm or 166cm, but with a little bit of blood, then he breeds the best. Then they are really scopey but also a little bit quicker.”

Faustino and Kirsten Vanderveen

A great leap sees Bull Run’s Faustino de Tiji (Berlin / Darco / Laudanum xx) move from 16th to 8th. Ridden by Kristen Vanderveen, the horse has been a solid placegetter and winner, mainly at 1.45m level. This year’s only show, Wellington, was a case of the good news and the bad news, eliminated in a 1.55m on the Thursday, they won the 1.45, on the Friday!

Berlin, sire of Faustino, and also a competitor himself

The stallion was bred by Belgian, Tim van Tricht, and yet again it is a small family operation.

“My father, Armand started the breeding. We had one mare. Then when I went to school for blacksmiths, I started breeding myself. When I started breeding for myself I started to use ‘de Tiji’ which is a combination of my name, and my wife, Jill. My wife has always been a rider, at an international level, and now we have started having kids, we do more breeding and only compete young horses.”
Like many successful Belgian breeders, Tim does not have many mares: “It all comes out of two or three mares, and I am doing a lot of embryo transplants. The mother of Bull’s Run Faustino, Bijou van de Vijfheide (Darco / Laudanum xx) I bought her as a foal. I knew Bijou’s mother, Frivole d’Elle, very well. She hurt herself and stopped competing, and I bought her foal, Bijou, by Darco. My wife rode Bijou until she was five or six. I’ve bred three foals out of her. The first one was Faustino, who competes in the United States at 1.60m, the second one was Herby de Tiji, by Massimo, who when he was a seven-year-old jumped two star Grand Prix – but soon after he had an accident and he has been out for two years. He was good as Faustino, maybe better – as a seven-year-old he jumped better classes than Faustino.”

Bijou was a good cross, Darco then the Thoroughbred, Laudanum?
“The thing with Darco is that you don’t always need that much blood, and the mother of Bijou she had a lot of blood, so with Bijou all you had to do was get her calm, she was really bloody. That’s why she went to Berlin because he is a really cool stallion, and I thought I’d try with the Cassini blood, it should be cool. Faustino is a little bit the opposite of the mother, he has blood enough, but it is normal.”

Two horses make the jump from 37th into the top ten this year. In ninth we find Silver Deux de Virton HDC by that wonderful stallion, Kashmir van Schuttershof, out of a Heartbreaker mare. Ridden by Kevin Staut, the stallion’s richest reward last year – €31,599 – came for a second at Oslo 5*, although they also picked up €27,475 for a 3rd in the Zurich World Cupper.

Caracas competing in Doha at CHI Al Shaquab with Jos Verlooy

In tenth we have an Australian horse, sort of. Helen Chugg, one of Australia’s most astute breeders of jumping horses, on behalf of Australian Sporthorse Breeders, purchased a Colman mare, Colthaga in Europe and decided to put her in foal to Casall before putting her on the plane to Australia. The result was Caracas, purchased as a three-year-old by another successful breeder, Des Russell, and showjumping rider, Jamie Kermond. Jamie had good success with the grey before he was sold in Europe and Jos Verlooy took the ride. Their standout success for 2018 was a first in the Barcelona 5* to take home €104,250.

EVENTING STALLIONS

The BN Eventing standings are perhaps the most problematical of the three, since unlike dressage and showjumping, the top eventing sires have seldom, if ever, been top eventing competitors. Looking at this year’s top 10 WBFSH eventing sires, only two Grafenstolz (Polarion / Insterruf) in 5th and Jumbo (Skippy / Seven Bells xx) in 12th, ever actually evented and neither made it to three star. As Andrew Nicholson, who rode Jumbo, said, “eventing is just not a stallion thing.”

Ballaghmor Class and Ollie Townend at Aachen

The number one on the BN eventing sires is Ballaghmor Class and here perhaps is the exception to the stallions don’t event rule, or maybe the dictum is that stallions that are not ridden by Ollie Townend, don’t event to the top, since this stallion is a real star at 4-star level with Townend – second at Burghley and fifth at Badminton in 2018, a winner at Burghley the previous year. He is by another of the Holsteiners that made such a mark on Irish eventing breeding, Courage II, who only stood for two seasons, but brought the blood of Capitol and Cor de la Bryère, to the equation. The other side is shrouded in mystery since no breeding is proferred for the mare, Kilderry Place. Do you breed to a stallion out of an unknown mare…?

The second ranked horse, Cillnabradden Evo, has a little more depth of breeding, he is by the obscure but well-bred, Creevagh Ferro (Ferro / Concorde) out of a grand-daughter of King of Diamonds. The rider is once again Oliver Townend, although this horse would seem more of a CIC specialist than Ballaghmor Class. Second at Blair Castle and Weisbaden last year, three CIC wins in 2016 but nothing for 2017, which may be why he is leaving the CCIs alone.

Jaguar Mail, a successful eventing sire

The third stallion, Tresor Mail, actually looks like he might have the right genetic mix to make his mark as a sire as well as a competitor. He’s been a decent competitor, good enough to make the French team for the WEG in Tryon, where ridden by Sidney Dufresne, he finished in 18th place individually, the highest placed stallion in the field. His sire is Jaguar Mail (Hand in Glove xx / Laudanum xx) who one suspects was bred to be a showjumper (and indeed he was in the Swedish Games team at Beijing) but his success has been as an eventing sire. On this year’s WBFSH Eventing Sires rankings, Jaguar Mail was in second place for the second year running. The dam sire, Iowa is bred to jump – Libero H / Nimmerdor – while the dam is by the Thoroughbred sire, Dark Tiger (Nasrullah / Man O’War), and the mare line is one of the most successful of the famed Brullemail band. All that adds up to 72.74% ‘blood’ which is just about right to breed eventers.

Thomas Carlile for France with Upsillon

There is another eventing competitor who is also looking the goods as a sire, is the tenth placegetter, Upsillon (by the Holsteiner, Canturo, and out of an Anglo Arab mare by Fusain du Defey). Given that Upsillon is very popular with breeders with Anglo Arab mares, he is being given every chance to produce competitors out of this eventing genetic gold mine. Ridden by France’s Thomas Carlile, Upsillon was a member of the French team at the Euro Champs at Strzegom in 2017. He has two three stars wins – at Blenheim in 2016 and Barbury Castle in 2017. Just two results recorded in 2018, a cross country retirement at Arville in Belgium, and a stunning win at Millstreet, adding 0.8 cross country time to a dressage score of 16.5!
Creevagh Ferro has three representatives the BN top 50, Courage II has two as has Jaguar Mail and Ghareeb xx (Dancing Brave / Shirley Heights). Eventing breeding has come a long way, but it is still no-where near as predictable at dressage or jumping breeding…