Christopher Hector examines the latest sires rankings…
Over the past 30 years, the annual WBFSH stallion rankings have become something of an institution, but as with all institutions, there comes a time when we have to ask – is it working? In the early days, the rankings were very heavily weighted for high level success, thus a stallion like Rebus could be crowned world number one dressage sire on the basis of one star – Rusty, Ulla Salzgeber’s multi medal winner – despite not producing anything else of note.
More recently, the wheel seems to have turned full circle, with the horses topping the list – the ones with the most international competitors – not necessarily the sires of the best competitors. In fact, you only have to scroll down to 40th on this year’s dressage rankings to find a stallion who would have been the shining star at the top of the list on those early rankings.
Is it quantity or quality we are measuring?
Johnson and Hans Peter Minderhoud competing at Aachen
For example, the Dutch stallion, Johnson (Jazz / Flemmingh) heads the standings again, yet his top competitor, Great Escape Camelot (out of a mare by the Cabochon son, Turbo Magic) ranks only 27th in the world, although he has recently proven just how good he is, when ridden by Raphael Netz, he placed 4th in the Grand Prix and in the Freestyle at Stuttgart, with scores of 72 and 78.
Windermere J’Obei and Melissa Galloway – Stephen Mowbray image
Johnson’s second ranked offspring, New Zealand team horse, Windermere J’Obei W (Pompeii Court xx) comes in at 41st in the world, and underlines why Johnson progeny are regarded with suspicion by many, they tend to be a bit wild. Indeed Windermere J’Obei W (alias Johnny) was, in the words of his owner/rider, Melissa Galloway “particularly difficult – he was the first horse in Australasia by Johnson. He didn’t get a very good reputation because he bucked and had to go to three breakers. He bucked me off six times in the first six months. He was very difficult.”
Quaterback, a winner at the Bundeschampionate as a three-year-old
Ranked second on the dressage stallions list is Quaterback (Quaterman / Brandenburger), and this one does have elite progeny. Quaterback’s highest point scorer is the 6th ranked Touchdown (Sack) with DSP Quantaz (Hohenstein) and Isabell Werth just out of the top ten in 12th.
Quantaz and Isabell (FEI / Lukasz Kowaski)
The next stallion with progeny in the world’s top ten, is the 9th ranked Bordeaux (United / Gribaldi) represented by world number 7, Bluetooth (Riccione) and world number 9 Fame (Rhodium).
Bordeaux (United/Gribaldi)
Bluetooth and Frederic Wandres at Aachen
Although there is little doubt they would have been joined in the top ten by Bohemian (Samarant) if he were still being ridden by Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, as it is, the gelding ranks 54th with his American rider.
Of recent years, the buzz has been around the new V line, but on these 2024 rankings, we find Vivaldi’s best in 46th and he has dropped from seventh last year to tenth, while his influential son, Vitalis in number 11, has Vayron (Gloster) at 8th, though his next best is 64th.
Vayron (FEI – Pernilla Hägg)
Numbers? Or the best?
Consider the case of Easy Game (Gribaldi / Schwadroneur), ranked 40th but the sire of the world’s number one, Dalera (Handryk) and Hermes (Flemmingh), currently ranked 19th, who would have ranked higher, but for injuring himself travelling to the Omaha World Cup.
Easy Game
Easy Game has also established a sire line, through his son, Millennium (Ravel). This is something the rankings stars of the past, like Jazz, Donnerhall, De Niro and Gribaldi did over and over again. However we are yet to see notable stallion sons of the 2024 champion and reserve.
As usual the has not been a lot of movement in the rankings. Johnson is 1st for the second year running. Quaterback moves from 4th to 2nd, while Blue Hors Zack drops from 2nd to 3rd. Totilas moves up from 6th to 4th and Jazz slips from 3rd to 5th. Apache moves from 8th to 6th and Ampere from 5th to 7th. Bordeaux stays at 9th while Vivaldi drops from 7th to 10th The only newcomer in the top ten is San Amour I (Sandro Hit / Plaisir d’Amour), up from 12th last year to eighth, with his best Jibraltar de Massa (Hohenstein) ranked 141st in the world.
San Amour I
Obviously the initial system that produced one horse wonders, needed to change. In the very first rankings 1995/96, it was Graditz in 6th, thanks to Gigolo, in 2000 / 2001, it was Rebus sire of Rusty, and in the 2002/3 rankings, there were three stallions, Freudentanzer, Argument and Tiro earning their fifteen minutes of fame on the basis of one clever foal each. Right now it seems we have gone too far, and the jumping rankings may well show the way out of the dilemma.
Jumping Rankings
The Dressage Rankings are based on percentages scored in international Grand Prix at CDI 3/4/5*/CDI-W events. While bonus points are awarded for special competitions such as the Olympic Games, and the World Cup Final, all the other competitions are treated as equal, a win in Australia provides as many points as a win at Aachen. The jumping calculations are more sophisticated. Jumping competitions are divided into groups, mostly based on their prize money, and type of competition. Each group has its own scale of points. The higher and more difficult the competition, the more points a horse can accumulate. This is very different from the dressage formula, and you might expect that the stallions at the top of the jumping lists, were the sires of the stars of international competition.
Well, not really
Kannan, Jumping Number One
The jumping number one is Kannan, still shining four years after his death. When he died at the age of 28, he was the sire of offspring in 40 countries and had produced team representatives for 50 nations. He sired 202 1.60m jumpers and 194 approved sons, but for all that does not seem to have been a stallion maker.
Quabri de L’Isle and Pedro Veniss
Kannan’s best son, certainly best looking since the Kannans tend to be a bit plain, Quabri de L’Isle (out of a mare by the Grand Veneur son, Socrate de Chivre) was a genuine international superstar with Brazil’s Pedro Veniss, but has not been so successful as a sire, there’s fourteen licensed sons, but not one 1.60m jumper to his name.
James Kann Cruz ridden by Shane Sweetnan
Kannan’s top point earner on this year’s standings, is the Irish bred, James Kann Cruz ranked 6th in the world. The grey gelding is out of a Cruising / Clover Hill mare, and this does seem to have been one of Kannan’s strengths, his ability to ‘click’ with a wide variety of bloodlines.
This is perhaps not so surprising since Kannan himself is such an interesting genetic mix, branded KWPN (although he was only licensed in that book at the age of 19) and by Voltaire out of a Nimmerdor mare, he balanced 6/16ths French (from Furioso II and his full-brother’s son, Le Mexico), 6/16ths solid German, Gotthard and Farn, along with a touch of Thoroughbred and a dash of traditional Dutch Gelderlander.
Furioso
It is one of those ironic breeding twists that the stallion line of the great French Thoroughbred Furioso had died out in that country, and was only revived, first through the Furioso grand-son, Voltaire, and more recently by the Voltaire son, Kannan.
Voltaire
Once again it would seem that Kannan’s pre-eminence is due more to the number of his progeny competing than their quality. Over 200 of his get contributed to this year’s points tally, and they soon fall away after James Kann Cruz, the next best is Nickolaj de Muze (Nabab de Rêve) in 38th, then Derby de Riverland (L’Arc de Triomphe) 94th, and we are in the hundreds…
Chacco Blue
It’s much the same with number two on the jumping standings, Chacco Blue (Chambertin / Contender). His best points earner was Veneno (Baloubet de Rouet) ranked 13th – his highest payout in the current cycle being €15,000 at Frankfurt with Britain’s Graham Gillespie. After that it’s 44th, 84th, 99th, and we are back to the 100s.
Blood Diamond du Pont
Third ranked Diamant de Sémilly’s best is Blood Diamond du Pont (Arpege de Pierroville) ranked 21st. Even the great Cornet Obolensky, who returns this year to the top ten in 4th place, is represented best by the 56th ranked Millfield Colette (Clearway), while Mylord Carthago in fifth, has as his frontliner the 54th ranked Dexter Kerglenn (Diamant de Sémilly).
It’s a relief to find that at least one of the Jumping Sires Rankings top ten has a horse in the world’s top ten competitors. Comme il Faut (Cornet Obolensky / Ramiro) is the sire of the Olympic gold medallist, second ranked Checker (out of a Come On / Baloubet de Rouet mare) but his next best comes in at 173rd.
Christian Kukuk and Checker
We have to scroll down to the stallion ranked 17th to find Cascadello, the sire of the world number seven Cydello (Forsyth), further still to the great Baloubet de Rouet languishing in 22th spot, but the sire of the third ranked Iron Dames Dubai du Cedren (Diamant de Sémilly), the bronze medallist at the 2023 European Championships.
Enough! I think I have made the point, that the jumping standings, like the dressage ones, are also measuring quantity rather than quality.
Let’s see how the eventing sires standings shape up.
Diarado
This time it’s BINGO! The number one WBFSH Eventing Sire, Diarado is also the sire of the world’s highest ranked eventing competitor, JL Dublin, despite his name, the horse is German, bred by respected breeder Volker Göttsche-Götze. The gelding is solidly Holstein bred, out of a Canto / Lombard mare, though, thanks to his sire, Dublin carries 25% Selle Français blood.
JL Dublin
Diarado’s second highest ranked competitor, Diabolo (23rd in the world), has already had two four-star wins in 2024 with Will Coleman. He is out of a Holsteiner mare by Aljano, but in the last line we find the secret ingredient, his grand-dam, Memory is by the greatest eventing sire of them all, Heraldik xx.
Heraldik XX – the greatest of them all…
I’m sure that when the Holstein Verband crowned Diarado champion of their 2007 Licensing, their mind was on success in what has always been the focus of their breeding program, showjumping. Trouble was, while he looked classy, Diarado was no star in the jumping arena, and when he was retired from competition in 2016 he had lifetime earnings of €7,175. As a showjumping sire, Diarado produced one superstar, Don Diarado who took home €595,668 with Maurice Tebbel, and 29 others who jumped 1.60m or better, but the comparative lack of success was a worry for masses of breeders who had sent mares in their hundreds to the young stallion who was marketed jointly by the Holstein Verband, Paul Schockemöhle and Joop van Uytert, each with their own crowd of loyal mare owners. Luckily, Diarado turned out to be a very good sire of eventers, at a time when the eventing showjumping demands were reaching new heights, and eventing riders were discovering in the modern lighter style of Holsteiner, just what they needed for clear rounds the showjumping phase.
Obos Quality
The second ranked eventing stallion, Obos Quality, is one of those European imports that saved the Irish Sporthorse from the dead-end of a closed book. The stallion was a nice balance of blood, on the top the French sire, Quick Star, solid old Hanoverian stock on the bottom. Obos Quality has been a consistent sire of top class eventers, thanks in large part to the excellent Irish broodmares he covered, though the breeding of the dam of his 2024 frontliner, MGH Grafton Street, is forever shrouded in mystery – breeding unknown.
Jaguar Mail
The third ranked Jaguar Mail (Hand In Glove xx / Laudanum xx) has always had what looks like the perfect pedigree to breed eventers – three-quarters jumping Thoroughbred, with the other 25% shared between two of Sporthorse greats, Almé and Gotthard. He was a member of the Swedish Olympic showjumping team, but as a sire he has made his mark on the world of eventing. His leading points earner this year is a five-star eventing star with Austin O’Connor, Colorado Blue (out of a mare by Rock King, a son of Just A Monarch xx).
Colorado Blue (Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile)
The fourth ranked stallion, the Trakehner, Grafenstolz (Polarion / Camelot) is the first on the list that has actually evented himself, winning the Six Year old World Championship at Lion d’Angers, and competing three-star with Michi Jung. His top horse this year is Ros Canter’s recent Burghley winner, Lordships Graffalo (Rock King), but Grafenstolz has produced many many top eventers, even though he covered only a fraction of the number of mares served by Diarado.
Lordships Graffalo and Ros Canter
Kannan’s top showjumper was ranked sixth in the world, and his top eventer, Dao de l’Ocean (out of a mare by Heraldik xx) is also sixth in this year’s eventing standings, ridden by the Swiss rider, Felix Vogg. Again, one suspects that the huge pool of mares Kannan covered provided a legion of nice jumpers that were not quite good enough for the showjumping arena, but perfectly adequate eventers.
Upsilon
Sixth ranked Upsilon won five three-star eventing competitions before he almost died from a mystery illness, luckily he was nursed back to health by his talented rider, Thomas Carlile. His success as a sire is also a stroke of luck for the French Anglo-Arab, a breed that was in danger of disappearing when it was finally realized what a super source of eventers it could be. Upsilon is classified as an Anglo stallion, and the most popular in that book, even though his sire, Canturo is solid Holsteiner, because his dam O’Vive comes from a distinguished AA line. Sure enough, he has seven AA progeny amongst his point earners for this year’s standings.
Fischerchipmunk FRH and Michael Jung
Contendro I died at the age of 27 just seven days after the close of the current rankings year. He is seventh on the 2024 eventing sires rankings, but has topped them four times in the past. The stallion is Holsteiner bred, by the great Contender, out of a mare by Reichsgraf, but he was most popular in the Hanoverian breeding district before his sale to France in 2013. The versatile stallion produced showjumpers and even dressage horses, but was most successful as a sire of eventers. His best eventers came from Hanoverian mares, many by Heraldik xx, indeed three of his top four points earners this cycle are by that great stallion, including his number one, Fischerchipmunk FRH. This year however, they are joined at the top of his team by the Selle Français Gaiete d’Agenais by Oberon de Moulin.
Joost, one of the original star stallions at Stal Roelofs
Of recent times, the Dutch breeders have shown an interest in a growing market for eventing horses, with some success. The eighth ranked Tolan R is by Namelus R (Concorde / Joost) out a Dutch mare by the Almé son , Aramis Z with another cross of Joost on the last line, not surprising since Tolan R is a product of Stal Roelofs whose star stallions for many years were Joost and Abgar. Toland R’s most successful competitor of 2024 is HSH Blake who adds more Dutch blood through his dam sire, Kannan, but his ISH brand from his grand-dam, Mount Cashel Queen.
Vigo D’Arsouilles competing at the 2010 WEG in Lexington
Belgium too is getting into the act, with master breeder Joris de Brabander producing a handful of eventers out of his Thoroughbred mare, South Gale, bred to the stallion that has produced so many showjumping superstars for Joris, Vigo D’Arsouilles who is ninth on the eventing standings. This time, Vigo’s number one is another bred to event, Belgium’s first five-star winner Hooney d’Arville who carried Lara de Liedekirke-Meier to victory at Lumühlen in June of this year. Hooney is home bred, out of Lara’s first eventing star, Nooney Blue, who is by the Jalisco son, Jet Set du Residal.
Zavall VDL
Rounding out our eventing top ten we have one of the stallion stars of the mighty Dutch Stud, VDL, Zavall VDL (Casall / Emilion) who is the sire of the world’s number three, Ros Canter’s frontliner, Izilot DHI (Marlon).
So there we are, of the three WBFSH sires rankings, the one that best combines quantity and quality is the Eventing list. It’s somewhat ironic since for so long those who claimed to know, would repeat over, and over and again, you can’t breed for an eventer.
Ends
