Analysis: Gemma Alexander and Christopher Hector
Jazz – back at number one
There is a comforting ‘old pals’ feel to this year’s WBFSH dressage sires rankings. The incomparable Jazz last headed the sires’ standings in 2011, now he’s back at number one, thanks to a veteran and a newcomer. The veteran is Judy Reynolds’ wonderful Vancouver K (Ferro) while the new face is Jazz’s highest points earner this year, and number 11 in the world, Blue Hors Don Olymbrio, also out of a mare by Ferro. No wonder Carl Hester says the first thing he looks for is Ferro blood – “if you can find your Ferro lines, then you are going to get a high level of work ethic, so that’s where you start.” The number one ranking for Olymbrio comes in the week that the ride on the stallion has gone from Daniel Bachmann Andersen to the daughter of the Blue Hors boss, Agnete Kirk Thinggaard – which is not half so bad as it might seem, Agnete is an accomplished Grand Prix rider, and Daniel has three top Grand Prix horses left in his Blue Hors stable…
Don Olymbrio – tops for Jazz
In the past couple of weeks, I have heard some of Germany and Denmark’s renowned breeding experts express their opinion that the Dutch stallions only work when bred to German or Danish mares, to give the progeny rideability. Yet, the top five competitors for both Jazz, and the number two on the rankings, Johnson, are all out of Dutch bred mares, and once again the influence of Ferro shines. The black stallion was the dam sire of competitors one, two and four on Jazz’s top ten, and the fourth horse on Johnson’s list, with the third being by the Ferro son, Negro.
Ferro, Ferro, Ferro…
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Johnson’s most successful competitor in these rankings is Meggle’s Boston, out of a mare by Anky van Grunsven’s Grand Prix stallion, Partout. Boston has been a consistent performer in Germany with Matthias Bouten, winning his first Grand Prix at Oldenburg 4-star, and followed that up for a win at Munich CDI 4-star to make it two GP victories in the month of November 2019.
Meggle’s Boston – winning at Grand Prix (Photo credit – Sportsfotos-Lafrentz.de)
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Sandro Hit has been in the WBFSH top ten sires since 2012, and he slips this year from second to third, even though he has perhaps his best team of performers out there right now. His top three are all stars: Showtime FRH (Rotspon), Salvino and Sir Donnerhall II, both out of mares by Donnerhall, who is the dam sire of two of his top five, and De Niro, dam sire to another.
It had to happen some time, but De Niro has taken a tiny tumble from the number one spot he has occupied. De Niro broke into the top ten in 5th back in 2010 and was number one from 2013 to 2018, although second on the 2014 listing. While Jazz has six progeny born in 2008, and two in 2009, De Niro’s youngest were born in 2004 so perhaps his star is finally on the wane.
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Dorothee Schneider and DSP Pathetique (photo – Kenneth Braddick Dressage News)
The shooting star is Quaterback (Quaterman I / Brandenburger). His team is led by DSP Pathetique, out of a mare by the jumping bred Holsteiner, Casado, but Pathetique does have the great advantage of Dorothee Schneider in her saddle.
Quaterback, being ridden by the test rider when he won at the Bundeschampionat – what a canter
Having leapt from 22nd last year into 5th, it would seem that Quaterback will be up there for a while, the oldest in his team were born in 2008, with two from 2009 and two from 2010. Quaterback is really the radical outcross on the dressage stallion list…
Passionata
Quaterback’s dam is Performance Horse Royalty – Passionata is a half sister to Poetin – who along with her full brothers, Samba Hit I-III, starred at the Bundeschampionate. Poetin and ‘the Sambas’ are by Sandro Hit and out of Poesie, by Brentano II, while Passionata is by Brandenburger, a performance test winner, who stood for many years at Neustadt Dosse – he also jumped at an advanced level, and had the reputation for producing excellent jumpers. His sire Beach Boy was by the French Anglo/Arab, Zeus out of a mare by the Thoroughbred, Lucky Boy. On his dam line we find the Ferdinand son, Wendekreis, and the Thoroughbred, Waidesmannsdank with his triple cross of Dark Ronald xx.
Poesie – founded a dynasty
The dam’s family of Pauline (Charlatan-Lodz-Delgierter-Wachmeister) is one of the main lines at the State Stud Neustadt/Dosse – a line that has produced nearly 30 licensed stallions!
On that fourth line of Quaterback’s pedigree we find one Selle Français, one KWPN (by a Selle Français), one Sachsen Anhalt and one Berlin-Brandenburger along with two from the more usual source, Hanover.
Don Frederico slips from fifth to sixth, most of his points from Don Johnson FRH with the redoubtable Isabell Werth, while number seven is Fidertanz making the leap from 24th, with his frontliner Ingrid Klimke’s ride, Franziskus. Fidertanz too has a younger team, three from 2008 and three from 2009. Fidertanz is the sire of Foundation, one of the rising stars of German dressage at Grand Prix level with Matthais Rath, and one of – if not the – most popular German dressage stallions.
Franziskus
Rubin Royal (Rohdiamant / Grundstein II) confirms that he is the (only?) stallion son of Rubinstein, although he has dropped from third to eighth, with his top performer, Rubins Nite (Limbo).
Coming in at number nine is another newcomer, and currently one of the hottest stallions on the scene, Vivaldi (Krack C / Jazz), his charge led by Hans Peter Minderhoud and Dream Boy NOP (Ferro).
Hans Peter and Dream Boy
Rounding out the ten is Don Schufro (Donnerhall / Pik Bube I), thanks largely to Isabell Werth’s Weihegold (Sandro Hit), currently ranked two in the world behind her stable mate, Bella Rose (Belissimo M / Cacir aa). In previous years I have drawn attention to what seems to me an anomaly where a breeder can put several horses into the world top twenty, yet be beaten for the breeders’ award by someone who has produced but one horse. This year Bella was comfortably in front of Weihegold which meant the breeders award went to Heinrich, Wilhem and Heike Strunk, the Longines timepiece well deserved, since they also bred the ninth ranked, Emilio (Ehrenpreis / Cacir aa).
While not quite as big as the jumping sires, the total number of offspring produced by this top 10 is fairly significant; five of the top-10 have over 1000 offspring registered to them, while the other five fall in the 500 to 1000 bracket.
The top 10 rankings rearranged by strike rate sees Don Schufro shoot to the number one spot, with 5.5% of his offspring competing at Grand Prix level, while 13.0% have reached Prix St Georges and above. Second by strike rate is Rubin-Royal at 4.5% and 10.3%, and third to Don Frederico with 4.2% and 12.4%.
The average blood percentage of the top 10 comes in at 34.7%, with the significant variance from 18.6% (Fidertanz) to 46.1% (Vivaldi).
A quick look at the 2009 top 10 rankings tells us that the average blood percentage a decade ago was 35.1% – very similar to today’s – ranging from a low of 24.6% (Florestan I) to a high of 43.6% (Welt Hit II), a narrower range than we see in our top 10 sires today.
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