Words – Christopher Hector Graphics – Gemma Alexander
Reading the German FN rankings, you have to remind yourself that, yes, these are the GERMAN not the WBFSH rankings, since of the top 20 jumping sires, twelve are foreigners. Dial the clock back a decade and look at the 2009 FN rankings, and yes, the Belgian bred (but he did his licensing in Westfalia) Cornet Obolensky (Clinton / Heartbreaker) is in second with a value of 165, while the Dutch bred, Now or Never M is in third (164) – but he is by the Hanoverian, Voltaire who was shunned in his home country and shunted off to The Netherlands, and Now or Never M is out of a mare by one of the greats of Dutch breeding, Nimmerdor – solidly Holstein on his top line, Dutch on the mare line.
Stakkato – Number 1 in 2009 (Photo Jacques Toffi)
That’s it, two out of twenty. For the record, and because it is worth looking back to see how accurate a predictor the German numbers have been, here’s the top twenty, largely dominated by Stakkato (Spartan / Pygmalion) in pride of place with a jumping breeding value of 171. Second and third to the imports, then fourth, Stakkato Gold (Stakkato / Werther), 164.
Then follows: Satisfaction (Stakkato / Calypso II) 159; Contendro I (Contender / Reichsgraf) 158; Stolzenberg (Stakkato / Sandro) 158; Cardento (Capitol / Lord) 157; Clinton I (Carolus / Calypso II) 156; the Dutch based solidly Holstein bred Indoctro (Capitol / Caletto II) 154; Albano (Acord / Landadel) 153; Lissabon (Lordanos out of a Dutch mare by Sion) 152; Chambertin (Cambridge / Cor de la Bryère) 151; Perpignon (Pilot / Watzmann) 150; Askari (Acord II / Lavall I) 150; Calido (Cantus / Coriander) 150; Cordalme (Cor de la Bryère / Almé – for all the strenuous resistance to French blood, it slipped into Germany thanks to Almé’s time at Zangersheide, largely through his son, Ahorn Z, the sire of Acord – and of course, the Holsteiners loved their French import, Cor de la Bryère so much that ‘Corde’ was sort of an honorary German) 150; Escudo I (Espri / Arkansas) 150; Monte Bellini (Montender / Ramiro) 149.
It is a very different picture on the 2020 values. Let’s look at the new value Zuchtwert Höchste erreichte Klasse or Highest level in competition, where the horses are evaluated on the basis of a points table with points awarded according to which performance level in competition their progeny have reached.
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There is the German stallion, Cumano (Cassini I / Landgraf) in the top spot with a value of 202, but the next five places are filled by foreigners: Kashmir van het Schuttershof (Nabab de Rêve / Tenor Manciais) 182; Baloubet du Rouet (Galoubet A, the shibboleth is broken, TROTTER blood on Galoubet’s dam side / Starter) 180; then the Dutch star, Heartbreaker (Nimmerdor / Silvano), 177; Cornet Obolensky has dropped to equal fifth on 175 with Quasimodo Z (Quidam de Revel / Carthago).
Seventh, Chacco-Blue (Chambertin / Contender), 174 followed by two foreigners, Diamant de Sémilly (Le Tot de Sémilly / Elf III) 173 and Ogano Sitte (Darco / Avonteur) 170. Tenth for Calvaro (Caletto I / Capitol), 167; Caspar (aka Berlin, Cassini I / Caretino) 167.
Then come a couple of French gentlemen, Jalisco B (Almé / Furioso xx) tied with his son, Dollar du Murier (out of a Uriel mare) on 167, the Belgian, Toulon (Heartbreaker / Jokinal de Bornival), 165; one of the French greats, Le Tot de Sémilly (Grand Veneur / Juriste) also 165; a couple of Germans, the Westfalien, Cornado (Cornet Obolensky /Acobat I) 165; Chaccomo (Chacco-Blue / Cento) 165; the Dane, Lando (Lancier / Raimondo) 164; Carthago (Capitol / Calando I) 163 and we round out our top twenty with that hero of Belgian breeding, Darco (Lugano van la Roche / Codex), a nice amalgam of Hanoverian, Holsteiner and Gelderlander, proving that border hopping is nothing new…
I asked my friend, and Hanoverian breeding expert, Ludwig Christman what was happening, why were foreigners dominating the FN ranking:
“About the high percentage of foreign stallions in the FN-rankings: The breeding value “highest level achieved” is quite new and you cannot compare it with the rankings in 2009. However, we have to analyse the contribution of foreign stallions in this evaluation system. At the moment it includes also imported horses and even horses from other countries, who just competed in Germany. The possible effect could be, that just the top horses of some stallions are counted, but not the more normal ones, which every stallion also produces. But this is just a hypothesis, which should be checked.”
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It was something of a tragedy for jumping breeding that Cumano was almost infertile for much of his career, his early crops were reasonable but towards the end of his life, it required the magic of ICSI to produce a foal. Cumano died in September 2018.
Cumano was bred in Germany by the late Willy Luhrs, who was crowned Holsteiner Breeder of the Year in 2006, but his first crops were born in Belgium before he spent one sensational year in France in 2000 when he was seven years old and this was perhaps the most productive season of any stallion, anywhere, any time, in the world! He produced 61 foals that year out of fairly ‘normal’ mares, eleven of whom gained jumping indices of 150 or more, SIX of whom have won CSI classes.
Here is a breakdown of the horses that contributed to Cumano’s FN breeding value (many many thanks to Dr Teresa Dohms-Warnecke, the Deputy Director Breeding at the Germany FN for patiently putting up to my endless requests).
1999: Coquet vd Potaarde Z (Feinschnitt van de Richter) 1.60
2000: Ameryllis (Darco) 1.60, Apache vd Dwerse Hagen (Sioux de Baugy) 1.30
2001: Noblesse des Te (Irak E) 1.60, Nasa (Prince d’Elle) 1.60, Rahmannshof’s Cumana (aka Nature Menardiere – dam sire, I Love You) 1.60, Newton du Haut Bois (Quat’sous) 1.60, Nouvelle de Sis (Mazarin V) 1.50, Naiade d’Auvers (Grand Veneur) 1.60
2002: Carucha van de Drie Eiken, BWP (out of a mare by the Ibrahim son, Hibrahim von Pferdheim), Chilli Pepper van de Helle (Sheyenne de Baugy) 1.60
2003: Wesselina (Mytens xx) KWPN 1.60; Comme d’Api vd Hacienda (Darco) 1.60; Cumano B (Darco) 1.45
2005: Romantik des Aulnes (Plein d’Espoir IV) 1.45
2008: Cumano Boy Z (Ramiro), Cumthago C (La Zarras) 1.45
2010 Atomic Z (Chin Chin) 1.60
In Germany Cumano produced four jumpers that contributed to his breeding value: Great White (Julio Mariner xx) 2008, 1.60; Chardonnay (For Pleasure) 2008, 1.60; Champ’s Son (Linaro) 2008, 1.45; Cumano’s Son (Carthago) 1999, 1.40.
We can only speculate how great Cumano’s influence would have been had he been able to produce more foals… but it also raises the question of how useful the FN highest level ranking is to the German breeder who is looking for an indication of how well a particular stallion will cross over his German mare. As we can see the vast majority of horses that contributed to Cumano’s ranking were out of non-German mares.
Dressage Sires
Jazz – number 1
Number one on the FN scale that measures Highest Level in Competition, is the Dutch stallion Jazz (Cocktail / Ulster) way out in front with 233 points, but it might be noted that while Jazz served full books year after year, the horse in second, Breitling W (Bismark / Maat I) only covered a handful of mares, since he was far from fashionable and lacked the super elegant modern look – he just happened to produce one Grand Prix horse after another.
It is interesting to note that while the jumping standings show a majority of ‘foreign’ stallions in the top 20, only six of the dressage top 20 were foreign born – and they are all from Holland. Aside from Jazz, we have Johnson (Jazz / Flemmingh) 10th; Vivaldi (Krack C / Jazz) 11th; Krack C (Flemmingh / Beaujolais) 12th and Ferro (Ulft / Farn)16th. But there are two more Dutch stallions knocking on the door – Bordeaux (United / Gribaldi) 21st, and in 22nd, Boston (Jazz / Flemmingh).
One of the problems with these sorts of rankings is that it takes so long to ‘make’ a Grand Prix competitor, so by the time a stallion starts to become famous, he is often no longer with us. Thus the top three – Jazz, Breitling W and Don Schufro (Donnerhall / Pik Bube I ) have all left us, as have the Welt Hit brothers, I 0 (6th) and II (7th Weltmeyer / Hill Hawk II), Gribaldi (Kostolany / Ibikus), Donnerhall (Donnerwetter / Markus – 15th) and Ferro.
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Once again there is the issue of what this ranking tells the German breeder. Ludwig Christmann is not entirely convinced: “Jazz was not used a lot by Hanoverian or Rhineland breeders. I only found one Hanoverian by Jazz, who was successful on S-level. When you look at his progeny in the FEI rankings then you only find Dutch horses. So you should ask Dutch people or successful trainers. The talent of the Jazz progeny for Grand Prix, however, is obvious, but what about temperament, rideability, walk?”
Vancouver starring for his sire, Jazz
We can see quite clearly when we look at the horses that have earned Jazz his standing as number one that they are almost entirely Dutch bred – just one points scorer from Germany, Active Private Dancer and one from Denmark, Jose Kilen. The rest are all from The Netherlands: Vancouver K, Don Olymbrio, Parzival, Orion, Potifar, Piaffe, Robin Hood, Tango, Toots, Umbro, Unlimited, Johnson, Wynton and Bonzanjo.
Vivaldi tops the ‘tournement’ rankings
When we look at the FN values ‘tournement’ this includes all performances at horse shows since 1995, including results at advanced level the picture is similar. Here the Dutch stallions once again are top of the pops: Vivaldi with a breeding value of 170 and a reliability assessment of 79%, in front of Jazz on 168 but with the higher reliability of 91%. Then comes: Damon Hill – 166 (91), Breitling W – 165 (87), Vitalis – 165 (90), Don Schufro – 162 (94), Fürstenball – 161 (95), Bordeaux – 158 (87), Krack C – 152 (84), Painted Black – 151 (71), Dimaggio – 151 (93), Don Juan de Hus – 151 (71) equal tenth with Rock Forever I – 151 (95).
Don Martillo by Don Juan de Hus
But if it is a young horse star you are looking for, then the late Don Juan de Hus (Jazz / Krack C) might be your choice, assuming there is any semen left. Born in 2008, Don Juan de Hus was shown for the Haras de Hus in France, by Jessica Michel-Bouton and starred in young horse classes – scoring 10 six times in his first show as a five year old. Jessica trained the horse to FEI level but hoof problems prevented him being competed and he died in 2017 – the year his son, Don Martillo (Beneton Dream) won the five year old championship at the World Young Dressage horse champs – the following year another son, d’Avie (Londonderry) took out the World six year old championship. Don Juan heads the young horse rankings with a value of 165 (93).
Others in the top ten are: Damon Hill – 156 (97); Fürstenball – 155 (99); Rock Forever I – 151 (98), Foundation – 151 (97); Vivaldi – 150 (95); Vitalis – 150 (97); Don Schufro – 148 (98); Krack C – 146 (90) equal tenth with Quasar de Charry – 146 (92).
