Blk/br 1.70cm 2008 Trakehner
Breeder – Bettina Bieschewski
Millennium was crowned Trakehner Stallion of the Year 2022 at the Trakehner licensing in November 2022. Earlier in the year, the stallion was recognized as an ‘elite stallion’ by the DSP breed society. The German Sport Horse Society (DSP), which includes the south German studbooks as well as Brandenburg and Saxony.
Millennium, who is owned by Gestut Sprehe in partnership with the Saxon state stud in Moritzburg, is the sixth stallion to receive the DSP elite title.
Millenium’s sire, Easy Game was the 2021 Trakehner Stallion of the Year.
The black Trakehner stallion, Millennium announced he was a force in the world of dressage breeding when he dominated the 2014 Stallion Licensings in three different studbooks.
Sir Sansibar
It started at the Trakehner Licensing where they licensed five sons of Millennium including their champion, Sir Sansibar.
And in Oldenburg, the young Morricone
The next to get on the Millennium band-wagon were the Oldenburgers, where their licensing champion, Morricone, was a very attractive black colt, by Millennium out of a Rubin Royal / De Niro / Rubinstein mare.
Milliennium was popular in Westfalia as well, with three colts approved for the Westfalien book, one of which made the premium ring, Walter Droege’s Millepoint (Millennium / Fürst Heinrich / Weltmeyer / Azur). (This one is now listed on the FN data base as a gelding.)
Suddenly people were asking, who is this sire?
Millennium in 2014 with Kristina Sprehe
Millennium had been the Reserve Champion of the 2010 Trakehner licensing. Then second in the dressage at his 30 day test and first of the dressage scores in a 70 day test in 2013. In 2012, he ‘won several young horse riding classes’ but it has taken some time for him to emerge in FEI ranks. Ridden by Sprehe resident rider and Olympian, Simone Pearce, the black stallion competed twice at FEI level in 2020, both times at Herzlake CDI*, for two seconds, 71.618 in the Prix St George, 71.274 in the Intermediaire I.
And in 2019 with Simone Pearce
His sire, Easy Game is by Gribaldi out of a Schradroneur mare, both these stallions competed Grand Prix, but Easy Game we are told is ‘educated to S level in Holland’ although thus far he has not appeared on the FEI database record of all international performances from Prix St Georges up.
I asked my colleague, the Trakehner expert, about Millennium. My informant is not only very well informed, but a genuine fan of the Trakehener breed.
He pointed out that the year Millennium was third at his licensing, was the year Paul Schockemöhle bought Totilas, and that it was a year in which black Trakehners with the name Gribaldi in their pedigree, were keenly sought after.
Easy Game
Millennium did not enjoy the best of reputations. His sire, Easy Game, seemingly was not easy at all. Whenever he appeared in public, he was only led by the stallion master, Joep van Uytert, and then always on a lungeing rein, since the stallion not only had the tendency to stand on his hind legs, but also tried to kick his handler!
However my friend is fulsome in his praise of Easy Game’s dam, the Schwadroneur mare, Evita, a former auction top seller.
In 2014 Belgian based Dutch rider Veronique Swagemakers purchased a half share in Easy Game with the intention that she would compete the stallion at Grand Prix level. Three years later he was back in Joep van Uytert’s stallion station without an FEI start.
Since then he has received a limited numbers of mares, but was proclaimed Trakehner Stallion of the Year 2021, largely on the basis of the success of a daughter from his first crop in 2006, the current world number one, Dalera BB, but also his licensed son, another of the van Uytert stallions, Hermès (out of a Flemmingh / Jazz mare) who won the CDIO 5* Grand Prix of Aachen this year with a score of 78.022%.
Back to my Trakehner expert who suggested that Millennium was ‘not too calm, but by far not as awful as his sire, just a little cheeky, a young stallion, and he was by far the most beautiful of all the stallions at the licensing.’
The verdict: ‘Time will tell if Millennium is the one to improve all breeding programs and if he will become a performer. From a breeding point of view I think you need an active mare that needs a bit of that sought after flamboyant front (face, neck, shoulder, front leg). And of course for all Warmblood breeds, it is interesting to have a stallion that has no Sandro Hit or Florestan or Donnerhall blood.’
Another astute observer of the Trakehener scene is Dr Maren Engelhardt, who was born into an equestrian family and has a lifelong involvement as a rider and a breeder. Together with friends, she created www.trakehners-international.com and writes for a number of publications, including the website, eurodressage.
Back in 2017, Dr Engelhardt commenting on the new Champion of the Trakehner licensing, Kaiser Milton (Millennium / Van Deyk / Gajus) wrote in eurodressage:
Millennium at home at Sprehe with Simone…
“This is the third Millennium son that has become Champion in the past few years and instinctively my gut reaction was ‘not again’. And true, my personal Champion stallion was not this one. But I’m not the approval committee and I understand why Kaiser Milton ended up in front – he was breathtakingly beautiful, with expressive gaits, especially in the trot, marked by shoulder freedom, ground cover and an engaged hind end, with nice self-carriage and good balance. His walk was ok, his canter was good, his trot quite phenomenal. Black, refined, lots of pizzazz = Millennium.”
Kaiser Milton (photo – Stefan Lafrentz)
“This horse embodies everything that makes breeders (and not only Trakehner breeders) return to that sire over and over again. Kaiser Milton also had that questionable walk, and the foundation and front leg conformation that makes me wonder if he will last. Yet if you can forget about the sire for a second, and look at the dam, then really, this Champion stallion comes from a sport background like few others.
Dorothee Schneider and her Grand Prix ride, Kaiserkult TSF
His dam Kaiser’s Els is a full sister to Dorothee Schneider’s longtime international Grand Prix partner Kaiserkult TSF and another full brother is the Grand Prix stallion Kaiserdom TSF (Kathrin Meyer zu Strohen). And the list goes on – all-in-all the full siblings of this dam have won close to 110,000 euro in competition in Germany alone. And as far as the ability to reproduce sport success goes – Kaiserkult TSF has produced S level dressage horses, and both also have offspring in eventing, including the CCI2* winner Regenmann in the US. So sure, there is the questionable Millennium again – but there is also a direct mare family that has truly produced its share of highly rideable horses. So before we all dismiss this new Champion, why don’t we give him a few years?”
Kaiserdom and Kathrin Meyer zu Strohen
(Alas, Kaiser Milton’s career was short and tragic. Bought by Burchard Wahler of Klosterhof Medingen for €320,000 at the licensing auction, he soon became subject of a legal battle, when Wahler claimed the horse turned up lame and unhealthy, he was found to have four leaky heart valves, and Wahler sued the original owner and the Trakehner Verband. Wahler eventually won the case, but in July 2021, it was announced that Kaiser Milton had been put down when his cardiac issue led to pleural effusion. He was six years old.)
Back to Dr Engelhardt:
“Speaking of Millenniun, clearly a horse that has a fan club, and a large base of breeders are using him every year. Over 30 approved sons across all registries, and the stallion is just nine years old. There’s always talk of his own fragile nerves and his non-compliance when it comes to being a riding horse. A more than meager performance record is usually brought up immediately by his biggest critics, but to be fair, a stallion with that kind of ‘business’ from January through August really cannot do very well in competition, if he wants to or not.”
“I saw Millennium privately Friday evening when he was in the big indoor with several sons when the horses had a chance to see the hall before the frantic Gala Saturday night. He was well-behaved, focused on his rider, and did what any other horse in there did that night – a good job. And I really am not a fan of this particular stallion. But just as much as it is wrong to think he’s the best thing on four legs that ever walked the earth (not only in the Trakehner breed!), it is just as wrong to so quickly dismiss him completely. As with any other stallion, he is certainly a good match for certain mares and breeding goals. It becomes problematic when there is almost no other choice anymore. In a way, he has become the Sandro Hit of Trakehnerdom, all the way down to the issues in walk, the somewhat electric personality and all the critique that came with it. Other than Sandro Hit though, he is infused into an already very narrow breed by the truck load.”
Four years later, Dr Engelhardt had another op/ed on eurodressage, looking at the 2021 Trakehner licensing:
“For several years now, Millennium and his sons have dominated the Trakehner approvals. 2021 was no exception to that. Three Millennium sons were selected during the summer, all three were approved, two with a premium.”
“Obviously, a good horse should be approved, no matter its pedigree, but there is no denying the fact that the Trakehner breed has been steering towards a saturation of this bloodline, and in a stud book with less than 1000 foals a year, that is a clear and present danger. The many sons and daughters from this line cannot be bred to each other indefinitely.”
Still she was enthusiastic about the champion, Impact (by Millennium out of Impatie by Vivus – Langata Express xx – Vincent, breeder: Jörg Bustorff, owner: BG Impact)
Impact – Foto: Stefan Lafrentz
“Ironically, this was probably one of the best Millennium sons to ever roam the Holstenhallen – a refinement stallion if ever there was one. His brilliant type and harmonious body rested on a light, but fitting foundation and the stallion showed an impressive combination of energy and forwardness paired with a more than solid temperament. Even as a non-fan of this line I can only conclude that this ‘Impact’ was a stunner.”
more follows
Back to that 2014 licensing champion, Morricone the very attractive black colt, by Millennium out of a Rubin Royal / De Niro / Rubinstein mare. There was a huge furore when he was sold for €755,000 to Rebecca Gutmann of Gestüt Bonhomme, since the rival bidders, Lone Boegh Henricksen and Paul Schockemöhle accused the auctioneer of ignoring their higher bid…
Morricone and Lena Waldmann (photo – KH Frieler)
Still it proved a wise investment for Ms Gutmann and in 2021 Morricone was crowned Oldenburg Stallion of the Year at the annual Oldenburg stallion licensing in Vechta.
Morricone was put in the spotlight, not only for his own competition successes, the price highlights at auctions he had, the licensed stallions he produced and the champion foals or brilliant ring mares he sired.
Morricone is out of Hartima by Rubin-Royal – De Niro – Rubinstein I, he is bred by Heinrich Vahle.
When Morricone was licensed in 2014 he was named Champion Stallion. In 2015 Morricone was the dressage winner of his 30-day test in Adelheidsdorf with a final score of 9.33. Thanks to his outstanding hereditary power paired with his outstanding own performance, he provided several price highlights at various elite foal auctions all over the world and was named the main premium winner in Vechta in 2016. He has produced three licensed sons in his debut year, including a premium stallion in Vechta.
Morricone – stallion of the year
My friend and journalist colleague, Claartje van Andel points out that Millennium is not only popular in Germany but across the border, in Holland:
“It’s not only Oldenburg which embraced Millennium descendants, some Dutch horsemen also looked for a good Millenium son to get approved at KWPN. As a matter of fact they succeeded, they found and got approved Lowlands (Millennium x Donnerball x Landadel, breeder Bernhard Schrapper) Especially as you gave a warning for the walk, it would have been great to mention Lowlands as he received 9,5 for the walk at his stallion presentation test in 2019.
Lowlands is sold to Iron Spring farms USA and still is educated here in The Netherlands by Dinja van Liere.”
Claartje is also a successful horse breeder:
“As a matter of fact I myself have used Lowlands for breeding with my mare Vinea (Ferro x Silvano N) in 2019 as I thought it would be a very fitting match. (Vinea’s offspring is doing very well, two of her kids allready went Grand Prix dressage with Marlies van Baalen, her eldest called Ben Johnson, the other is the late Dion Johnson, unfortunately he died due to an accident.) Last year a wonderful black colt out Vinea (prest) was born. His name is Regisseur C. Eugene Reesink visited all Lowlands foals last year and he loved mine: good conformation, straight and well on his legs, perfect walk, he said.”
“Today I enjoyed the stallion competition online in Exloo.
Lowlands showed by Dinja van Liere received the marks 8,5 for trot, 9 for walk, 8 for canter, 9 for harmony and 8.5 for general impression.”
Lowlands and Dinja van Liere
And Millennium? Well he just keeps on siring starry progeny… His own competition earnings have been modest €825, but he has sired 203 competitors with earnings of €55,096, with ten competing at S level.
On the new 2021 FN breeding values, Millenium is not in the top 10% of the Highest Level Achieved values. He just makes the cut on the Sires of Competition horses list, in 203rd place with a value of 124 based on 117 competitors. He does make an appearance in the top 10% sires of young horse competitors, coming in in 152nd place with 375 competitors and a value of 136.
His son Morricone is 11th on the young horse sires chart, while another son Ivanhoe is 43rd.
A young Millenium at home at Sprehe
Millennium’s Hanoverian value for type is 146, with 149 for his head. Breeding value for limbs, 117, and for height, 114. His Hanoverian dressage value is 111, with 127 for trot, 106 for canter and 94 for walk. His rideability ranking is 108.
Since Millennium is the sire of 63 licensed sons, he will continue to be a major influence for some time, and fodder for heated discussions over a shot of schnapps…
These bloodlines are available in Australia – go to: www.ihb.com.au
Morricone III https://ihb.com.au/product/morricone-111/