Chacco-Blue

1998 – 2012  Bay  Mecklenburg

Breeder: Karl-Heinz Köpp

Chacco-Blue with four progeny was the best represented stallion at the European Championships 2015. He was also the best represented at the WEG in Tryon in 2018, with eight progeny. His influence was still seen in 2021 as sire of Ben Maher’s Explosion W, winner of the Gold Medal at the Tokyo Games.

Tailormade Chaloubet and Sören Pedersen – one of four at the Euros just after the death of his sire…

The bay stallion died in his prime, of Lyme disease in 2012, having won the Grand Prix of Neumünster earlier in the year, ridden by Schockemöhle stable jockey, Andreas Kruezer.

For most of his life, from 2007 to 2010, Chacco-Blue was ridden for Paul Schockemöhle by Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst. They were moderately successful on the international scene: the pair were 3^rd in the Grand Prix of Falsterbo, 2^nd at Hachenburg, first in a 1.60 at Olympia, for total lifetime earnings of €289,517, but it is as a sire that Chacco-Blue has been a star.

Chaccland and Ferenc Szentirmai at the Euros

For Alois, he was the horse of a lifetime: “When I started to work with Chacco-Blue, he was nine years old,” he told me. “He was just ready to step up into international sport. The good thing for me was that he had always had good riders in his life. When he was five and six, Cameron Henley rode him, a popular well-known rider from Ireland, then David McPherson, then Manuel Fernandez Saro. When I got him, he was well-educated but for me in the beginning, he was really ambitious, he was sometimes a little over-motivated. It took about half a year before I could control him even at the end of the course, from number nine to the last fence, 12 or 13.”

“He was a horse with a wonderful attitude, he always wanted to go, he was not spooky at all. The only thing that made it a little bit harder for me in the beginning was that I didn’t have total control, but we found our way together, and for sure he was one of the best horses I have ridden.”

Do you know anything about the motherline?

“I think the outstanding feature of the motherline is the grand dam, a half bred mare, Godahra II, by the Thoroughbred, Godavari (Tudor Minstrel line). In the Eastern part of Germany she was very popular, she used to win a lot of metre thirty, metre forty. She must have had really good sports spirit, because she was winning and many people were talking about her. She was small (167 cm) but she had a big heart and she was a fighter. I guess that this is a very strong part in Chacco-Blue’s bloodline. I believe that if you see the offspring of Chacco-Blue, almost 99% have a super technique, a big heart, a good attitude to work, and this might come from this very strong grand-mother.”

What does he give his progeny?

“He has given to the next generation a wonderful technique, front leg technique, and the most obvious thing is the positive attitude to the sport. Some of the horses, they might be a little bit delicate in the beginning, when they are young they are a little bit freaky, a little bit spooky, not really spooky but their senses are 100%, what they hear, what they see, and it takes them a little while to settle. This is not a weakness, this is something that every good young horse has.”

Crazy Quick at Aachen

And Crazy Quick at the Normandy WEG in 2014

Are there certain sorts of mares he works best with?

“I can’t judge that. So far as I can see, there are many combinations – from France, from Belgium – that I would say, that is a perfect match. Paul Schockemöhle could answer this question more precisely than I could.”

It is a big advantage that he stands with Mr Schockemöhle, so he gets lots of mares?

“Call it promotion. Paul Schockemöhle used him a lot because he realized very soon how to find the right mares for him. In his opinion Chacco-Blue fitted to a lot of his mares, he has around 1000 mares but he knows every brood mare by name. If you say one name of a mare, he says, yes, the grandmother of this mare, I bought from Hartwig Steenken, or Alwin Schockemöhle in 1970…. She is related to this horse and this horse. That is a knowledge that no-one else has, and then it comes, maybe by intuition, that Chacco-Blue fits this mare. He has the best experience, and the best success.”

The director of the Holstein Stallion Barn, Norbert Boley filled me in on Chacco-Blue’s sire, Chambertin:

“Chacco-Blue is by Chambertin, a Holsteiner, and on the mother’s side it is Contender, another Holsteiner who has a lot of offspring at the Championships, also some grandsons. Chambertin was not in our area for such a long time, the fertility was not the best, so the stallion was sold to the South of Germany, and he died shortly after that.”

“He bred foals that were good in type, and their jumping style was good, very careful horses.”

For Paul Schockemöhle, the worst thing about Chacco-Blue was his early death.

And how did you find him?

“I bought him as a five-year-old at the German Young Horse Championships. I believed in him right away – even as a five-year-old, he was quite expensive.”

“Okay he could jump, but the best thing was his mentality. He tried always, even if you rode him at a wall of two metres fifty, he couldn’t have jumped it but he would have tried, and this he gave absolutely to all his children. At the beginning they are not so fantastic jumpers but they always learn and they are really willing to learn.”

Are there any particular mares he crosses best with?

“The best was when he got some blood – and his daughters are in general better than the sons.”

Franke Sloothaak spent many years riding for Schockemöhle and while in that stable learnt well the lesson that riders should study breeding – if they want better horses:

“Now because of bettter breeding we see more, better quality horses. Chacco-Blue was bred by Paul Schockemöhle on one of his foundation principles,” Franke told Adriana van Tilberg, in an interview for Breeding News. “They need to have scope and be good to ride, the rest you can achieve mostly through training. The majority of Chacco-Blue offspring want to jump. There are many Chacco-Blues with a lot of scope, but also some with less scope, but they jump because of their willingness to perform. Chacco-Blue inherited this from Chambertin and from Cambridge, and also Caletto I. This bloodline always had a good willingness to perform. You might seen Chacco-Blue offspring who are not the prettiest horses, but in the past Paul never cared about that.”

Chalou and Emanuele Gaudiano – number one for Chacco-Blue in 2020

On the 2020 WBFSH jumping stallion rankings, Chacco Blue is in 1st place, as he was the previous year,  with 147 of his progeny contributing to his standing. His most successful points earner is Chalou (Baloubet de Rouet) who is ranked third in the world with Emanuele Gaudiano. The stallion has won €889,821,

Miss Untouchable (Aldatus) ridden by Leopold van Asten 

His 2022 Hanoverian breeding value is 79 for dressage, 159 for jumping and a negative 87 for type. In the 2022Hanoverian stallion book, he is credited with 1194 competitors with winnings of €6,561,863. In 2021, He is the sire of 76 horses who have won more than €15,000 in prize money, the most successful being Callisto Blue who has earned €575,390 followed by Chacon 2 with €352,671 and Chaccos’ Son with €348,664. Six more of his get have won more than €100,000. His FN young horse jumping value is 139 and 178 for highest level achieved. He is still number one on the WBFSH jumping sires rankings.

Carlchen W and Alex Granato (FEI photo)

Chacon (out of an Aventyno Z mare) and Ludger Beerbaum

He is the sire of 15 licensed sons in the Hanoverian book alone and over 30 world wide.

And still they keep coming – March 2022 at Palm Beach, and Paul O’Shea and Chancelloress (Chacco-Blue / Balou du Rouet) win the  $140,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic Final

Paul Schockemöhle thinks he may have the next generation in Chacco-Blue’s son Chacfly:

“The chestnut stallion is by Chacco-Blue, the mother by Sir Shutterfly – the full brother to Shutterfly of Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum – so he has quite a lot of blood, and is light, which is always good with the Chacco-Blue blood. He, himself, is very careful, very good type, quite ‘bloody’. I would say he is on the border of a little hot, but in a good way.”

Chacfly

“He is very ambitious to jump and he has shown this a couple of times. He won quite a lot of small classes when he was five and six. At the moment he is one of the stallions in Germany who are really attractive for the breeders.”

Do you think he will go on to compete in the big sport?

“I hope so. I want to bring some stallions into the sport. I believe it is good that they people can see the stallions in the sport, then they can judge them better.”

What mare lines do you think  Chacfly will work best with?

“I don’t really look at the lines, I look at the horse. Like I said, he’s a blood horse, but he breeds big, nice legged foals. I wouldn’t breed him to a Thoroughbred type mare.”

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Ben Maher and the nine-year-old  Explosion W  win the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Madrid 2018. The gelding is by Chacco-Blue out of a Baloubet du Rouet mare. So far he has won €2,381,217. Photo: LGCT / Stefano Grasso

and Explosion W went on to win individual gold at Tokyo

The highest ranked Chacco-Blue in the final individual standings at the 2018 WEG,
Blue Movie with Rowan Willis (photo – Digishots)

Gemma Alexander examined the 2020 WBFSH jumping sires rankings and found that Chacco-Blue had the second highest strike rate…

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