Aachen and Ermelo – the Breeding De-Brief

by Christopher Hector

Those two great pillars of Dutch dressage breeding, Jazz and Ferro, are in the twilight of their breeding careers – a polite way of saying they are dead. But they still feature when the wonderful roster of competition horses at this year’s Aachen CHIO is distilled down to the top fifteen who make it through to the Freestyle on the Sunday.

Jazz competing for Holland at the WEG in 2002 with Tineke Bartels

Jazz is the sire of one of the fifteen, and dam sire of two, while his son, Tango, is dam sire of another. Ferro is the dam sire of two, and talking to Carl Hester at Aachen, he told me that it is the Ferro bloodline that he looks for when he goes shopping for the next Valegro.

Ferro – the blood to look for?

At the top of the class was Isabell Werth’s Bella Rose, making a wonderful return from a career threatening injury. Bella represents the newly re-emerged ‘B’ line of Bolero.

Bolero brought 81.64% ‘blood’ to the equation

Bolero was hugely popular in the mid-eighties, bringing 81.64% ‘blood’ to the equation, and producing the modern type of dressage horse. However the line was somewhat neglected in the 90’s, with a re-emergence in the last few years thanks to real breeders like Westfalia’s Strunk brothers, Heinrich and Wilhelm and Wilhelm’s wife, Heike.

Bella and the return of the B line…

The Strunk family bred Bella Rose AND Emilio who was second in the four-star dressage at Aachen, out of mares that descend from the stud’s foundation mare, Pik Dame (Pilatus / Allerhand). Both dams are by the Anglo Arab, Cacir aa (Cacique aa/ Nithard aa). Cacir is out of the Nithard mare, Resina, making him a half brother to the rather more famous French import to Oldenburg, Inschallah aa (Isreal) who stood at the Vorwerk stud.

For the full story go here http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2019/07/isabells-stars-meet-the-breeders/

There were those of us who thought Sandro Hit would never produce a Grand Prix horse, we were wrong. But it might be noted that Showtime FRH (Sandro Hit / Rotspon) is ridden by Dorothee Schneider who is some kind of genius, and who recently moved to an even higher plane of excellence. The other representative, Salvino, is ridden by another brilliant rider, US team member, Adrienne Lyle, and the gelding is out of a Donnerhall mare. Adrienne tells me she had to do extra fittening work to get the hind end stronger, something of a worry with the Sandro Hits.

Showtime and Dorothee – some kind of genius…

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Sandro Hit is also the sire of Samarant, the dam sire of Cathrin Dufour’s new superstar, Bohemian. It’s always a worry when a rider makes it to the top with a horse they have ridden through young rider classes as Cathrin did with Cassidy, they tend to be ‘one hit wonders’ and leave as quickly as they arrived, joy it is that this supremely elegant and tactful rider, has quickly proven that she will stay at the top for some time yet.

United, combining some of the famous Dutch dressage names: Krack C, TCN Partout, Gribaldi

Bohemian is by the Dutch stallion, Bordeaux who is by United, who combines some of the famous Dutch dressage names: Krack C, TCN Partout, Gribaldi, while Bordeaux’s dam sire is Donnerhall, then comes Westfalien royalty, the grand dam is Adone (Angelo xx / Donar), who produced the great Rembrandt.

Interesting to note, Krack C was Anky van Grunsven’s ride at Jerez. So three influential stallions competed there

Cathrin and Bohemian – she has another super horse…

The other horse is the top fifteen that really made her mark at Aachen was Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s TSF Dalera BB (Easy Game / Handryk) who finished fourth. If the word Trakehner conjures up a super pretty head, and minimal movement, think again, Dalera is tall and scopey, and Jessica is another who has hit another level. The German team for the Euros in Rotterdam is Jessica, Dorothee, Isabell, and Sönke Rothenberger, who was consigned with Cosmo to the 4-star second string Grand Prix at Aachen by the German selectors. Arguably Cosmo would have won the 5-star since he had no mistakes while Bella had a couple of glitches… It looks like the strongest German team ever!

A Trakehner with scope – Dalera and Jessica

To add weight to the Trakehner come-back, Charlotte Dujardin rode another Trakehner, Erlentanz (Latimer / Benz) into fifth place.

The black stallion of your dreams? Dante Weltino

If you were looking for the stallion of your dreams to send your mare to, I’d be looking hard at the seventh placed Dante Weltino who was beautifully ridden by the Swedish rider, Therese Nilshagen. The black stallion is by Danone (Mark IV according to the start list, I according to Horsetelex, I think the latter is correct). Surprisingly this is the first time we mention the usual staple of championship classes, De Niro, who is Danone’s sire. Another forgotten hero, Weltmeyer also gets a double mention, since he is the dam sire of Danone, and the sire of Welt Hit II the dam sire of Dante Weltino.

The breeding was interesting, but allow me to assure you that the action was sublime…

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Breeding at the World Young Dressage Horse Champs 2019…

The first thing you notice is that young horse breeding has become very much the territory of stallions who were themselves, young horse competitors.

Sezuan – the most progeny

Equal first the list with five progeny is Sezuan. The horse’s bloodlines are a brilliant amalgamation of Dutch and German dressage lines. On the top, Zack, who is by the Ferro son, Rousseau, out of a Jazz mare, on the bottom, Don Schufro (Donnerhall / Pik Bube), with only the somewhat obscure Holsteiner stallion, Lionelll (by Leonid – Landgraf – out of a Carneval – Cor de la Bryère – mare) in the fourth line to remind us that a little jumping blood never goes amiss in the dressage horse recipe.

Bred in Denmark, Sezuan was a Young Horse sensation, winning, with Dorothee Schneider, three World Championships in a row: 2014 – 16. The stallion made one international appearance in September 2017 winning both the Prix St Georges and the Intermediaire I with Dorothee, before he was transferred to Patrik Kittel’s care, for a Grand Prix debut in 2018. He appeared at a Danish stallion show in March 2018, then disappeared in a fog of ‘no comments’. Earlier this year it was announced that he would not be standing at stud, available only frozen, since he was being prepared by Patrik for a 2019 Grand Prix debut. We are still waiting… I saw the horse several times at the Young Horse Championships, and he looked a very unlikely candidate for collection.

Zonik – competitor and sire…

Another son of Zack, Zonik (Romanov / Don Schufro) has three representatives and all three made the top ten of the six-year-old championships. Zonik was the sire of the six-year-old champion, Zucchero (from a Prince Thatch xx mare), and the third placed, Zhaplin Langholt (Stedinger). Zonik has made the leap to the Big Tour and has been Grand Prix star with Edward Gal, winning some of the world’s top GPs, and placing 7th at last year’s WEG.

Zucchero – six year old champion

So the real star of the breeding show is Zack  (Rousseau / Jazz). Ridden by the extraordinarily talented Daniel Bachmann Andersen, the cute little stallion was first in the Grand Prix and the Freestyle at Falsterbo 5*, fourth in the Freestyle and third in the Grand Prix at the World Cup final in Göteborg, and won both the Grand Prix and Freestyle at s’Hertogenbosch earlier in the year. I wrote ‘little’, but perhaps that is because Daniel is so tall – horsetelex suggests that Zack is 1.74 cm, Sezuan 1.73 and Zonik, 1.71.

Zack, another Grand Prix star and sire…

Zack was responsible for of two of my personal favorites at the Worlds, he is the sire of  Jameson RS2 (Negro) eighth in the 5-year-old final, and was the dam sire of the horse ranked ninth, For Gold OLD (by Franziskus) whose rider, Stefanie Wolf wins my personal award for beautiful, correct and harmonious riding.

Jameson – big, black and flash… 

With four representatives, we find flavor of the month in Germany Vitalis (Vivaldi / D-Day). This is another young horse star who failed to jump the chasm between the small tour and the big tour. He won an Inter 1 freestyle and a Prix St Georges with Isabel Freese at Ermelo one-star, back in 2016 and then disappeared. His progeny dominated the recent Hanoverian licensing, although Hanoverian breeding authority, Ludwig Christmann told me that he thought breeders mainly saw Vitalis as a source of Vivaldi (Krack C / Jazz) blood – and the feeling in Holland at the moment is that Vivaldi is the best young stallion on the scene. Vivaldi has one representative in the championships at Ermelo, his son, Van Vivaldi (Olivi) has another.

Valverde by Vitalis (Photo – Kenneth Braddick, http://dressage-news.com

The best-placed Vitalis was Valverde (Ampère) who was 4th in the five-year-old final, while First-Step Valentin (Fidemark) was 9th in the seven-year-old final.

Rock Forever and Skovens Rafael both had three representatives.

Rock Forever NRW is by the Ramiro grandson Rockwell out of a mare who is a grand-daughter of Landgraf, a little jumping blood is fine on a dressage pedigree, but this is perhaps a little too much. The Westfalien stallion was 6th in the World Young Horse Championships back in 2008, and since then has competed with very modest success in young rider classes. Of his progeny, Moosbend’s Rockadero (Ricardos) was =14th in the Five-Year-old final.

Skovens Rafael, Romanov/Don Schufro

Skovens Rafael is nicely bred for dressage being by Romanov (Rohdiamant / Grundstein) out of a Don Schufro mare. He has won and placed at Grand Prix level at the smaller shows with Lotte Skjgerbaek with his best win last year in Sopot, Poland and no results for 2019. His son Springbank II VH (De Niro) was 5th in the Five-Year-old championships.

The only other stallion with three is the Spanish stallion, Kabileno VIII (Pampero VII / Kabila x). I know little about this horse, but the youtube clips would indicate that he has real dressage movement, especially in the trot. I thought the judges at Ermelo were very harsh on the Iberian bred horses.

Don Schufro at Aachen in 2004 with Andreas Helgstrand

When we look at the dam sires, then the names that we are more familiar with in the WBFSH Dressage Sires rankings, leap to the fore. Notably the great De Niro (Donnerhall / Akzent II), sire of five of the competitors dams. But there is more of that precious D blood, lots more: Don Schufro with seven, while Don Gregory (Donnerhall / Graphit) and DiMaggio (Don Primero / World Cup I) have two each.

De Noir (De Niro / Matcho aa), Del Piero (Donnerhall / Matcho aa), Don Primero (Donnerhall / Pik Bube I),), Donnerschwee (Donnerhall / Freiherr) and Don Romantic (Don Schufro / Romancier) are all represented once.

Sandro Hit competing at the Bundeschampionat with Ulf Möller in the 90’s

The dam sire with the most representatives after Don Schufro, is the stallion that started the fashion for young horse stallions, Sandro Hit (Sandro Song / Ramino) with six, while his sire, Sandro Song (Sandro / Gepard) contributes one. Sir Donnerhall (Sandro Hit / Donnerhall) has two, as does Stedinger (Sandro Hit / Landadel), while Soprano (Sandro Hit / Contender), St Moritz (Sandro Hit / De Niro) and Show Star (Sandro Hit / Feinbrand), all have one each.

Interesting then that while so many ‘Young Horse’ Stallions were represented at the World Champs, it was the ones that have competed successfully at Grand Prix – Zack and Zonik – who proved to be the stars when it came to siring the horses that did best in the finals.

Want to breed to stallions and bloodlines that produced the winners at Aachen and Ermelo in Australia? You can, go to www.ihb.com.au  Select the right lines for your mare from stallions like, and many more…

Bordeaux

Sezuans Donnerhall

Vitalis