Christopher Hector reports from s’Hertogenbosch

Jacob Melissen and DigiShots took the pix

Glorious glorious horses, colts that danced, that radiated power and presence. Dutch dressage breeding is certainly headed in the right direction. Sure there are still a few with the hindlegs trailing along behind the extravagant front ones, there’s still a tendency on the part of the spectators at least to applaud tension, and ignore softness, but these are minor quibbles, the future looks bright. The Dutch seem to be breeding for the big sport, and to underline the aim, their Dressage stallion selection committee, is headed up by international dressage competitor and international coach, Bert Rutten, joined by one of the real master dressage trainers, Johan Hamminga, a wizard with young horses and Grand Prix competitors. The third member of the group, Marian Dorresteijn, may not have been as famous as dressage competitor as her sister, Coby van Baalen, but she too competed at the highest level. I can think of no other stallion commission that looks through such hands on, experienced and knowledgeable eyes…

Toto Jr and Edward Gal

The proverb as you sow, so shall you reapseems to be borne out in the dressage lineup at the KWPN stallion show. Four years ago,the Hanoverian stallion Toto Jr (Totilas / Desperados) was the most used stallion in the KWPN, resulting in the most foals born in 2017. Out of the 10,500 KWPN foals registered in 2017, 4,300 were dressage bred, 5,500 show jumping bred, almost 600 are harness bred and 160 are registered as Gelderlander. Of the dressage foals, 369 were by Toto Jr, and sure enough, he has the most colts in this the second round of the  selection – eleven.

Daily Diamond

Toto Jr also confirms the consolidation of the German / Dutch recipe, as does the second most popular stallion in Holland in 2016 Daily Diamond (2012 – by Daily Deal out of a Fürst Heinrich mare) with 222 KWPN registered foals born in 2017. The Westfalien stallion, Daily Diamond stands at the famous de Watermolen Stud. He put five colts into the second round of the selection.

Dream Boy – Dutch Dutch

It’s back to Dutch / Dutch for the next sire, Dream Boy (by Vivaldi x Ferro) who produced 174 foals, with four colts going into the selection. More cross border fertilization with Hennessy (by De Niro x Jazz) siring 168 foals for just one to make the second round but it was a pretty fancy one, out of a Bordeaux / Ferro mare and back to straight Dutch, Franklin (by Ampere x Ferro) with 141 foals registered. Franklin has the highest strike rate with six making it into this the second round of the stallion selection…

Franklin – stands at Helgstrand

Ferdinand (2010) with five colts is solidly Dutch – by Vivaldi out a Havidoff / Wolfgang mare. The stallion was purchased in 2013 at the KWPN Select Sale for €160,000 for Mirelle van Kemenade-Witlox to ride.

Ferdinand – gone to Russia

Mirelle and Ferdinand competed at the 2016 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Ermelo, where they finished 4th in the consolation finals. They went on to national small tour level, but never did any small tour CDI’s.

In January 2019 it was announced that Ferdinand would move to Diederik van Silfhout’s yard where he would be trained up to Grand Prix level. The horse was sold to Russia after seven weeks with Diederik. Just maybe a good one has slipped away…

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Indian Rock, licensing champion

Indian Rock (Apache / Vivaldi) was not high on the progeny list but still managed to put four colts into the second round. The future of Indian Rock as a breeding stallion is clouded, like his sire, Apache (UB 40 / Krack C) he carries the WFFS gene. The evidence seems to be stronger every day, that the prophets of doom were totally wrong – on the basis of their simple recessive formula, there should be hundreds of dead foals, but so far as I can tell there have only been three since the ‘outbreak’ commenced. If Dark Ronald is responsible – or the alternative thesis, the Desert Arabians – then the Thoroughbred population ought be riddled with WFFS, yet a UC Davis recent study showed that the problem was almost non-existent. It seems there must be some extra factor involved that has not been identified. But, if you want to sell to the American market, then you better not use Indian Rock – lucky the same policy wasn’t applied to Don Schufro since the beneficial influence of this WFFS carrier is still well and truly in evidence here at den Bosch.

Total US – starring at Amsterdam

Edward Gal and Total US (Totilas / Sir Donnerhall / Don Schufro) wowed the crowd at Amsterdam the weekend before the stallion show with an 80.458 in the Inter I Freestyle. He has four at the stallion show – and yes, he is WFFS positive.

Mobil Sollenburg, by Total US, out of a Jazz / Krack C / Ferro mare – selected!

Mapache by another WFFS positive sire, Apache out of a Desperado mare,
he is passed to go on to the performance test, and apparently,
after that they are tested for their WFFS status

Three older stallions were represented by three products each: Desperado (2008 – Florencio / Clavecimbel), Zonik (2008, Zack/Romanov) and Totilas (2000 – Gribaldi / Glendale).

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The Dressage Licensing…

No Name, but what a colt! By Bon Coeur

The very first horse into the ring sets the tone. A glorious black colt with just enough bling and a beautifully balanced but totally German pedigree, perhaps because he was born in Germany, but now is in the stable of Dutch master stallion producer Edgar Schep, who seems to have a couple of hundred colts at this show. The un-named colt is by Bon Coeur (Benneton Dream / Sandro Hit) out of a Don Index / Rohdiamant / De Niro mare. He is selected.

By Escolar out of a Jazz mare…

The next horse is an interesting test of just how much ‘German’ the Dutch commission will take. He is bred in The Netherlands but by the top young German sire, and rising Grand Prix star, Escolar (Estobar NRW / Fürst Piccolo) out of a mare by the doyen of Dutch dressage breeding Jazz, out of a German mare: Florestan over Weltmeyer. Like his dad, this bay colt is a bit plain in the head, but like his dad, he has huge movement. No, the Commission is not prepared to give up on the Dutch quest for beauty, he is “too old fashioned, needs to be more uphill,” says Bert Rutten, the chair of the Commission.

Monte Cristo, another lovely Totilas

I loved Totilas (Gribaldi / Glendale) when Edward Gal rode him but I was always a bit suspicious of him as a sire, but with the right mare he looks set to prove me wrong. Monte Cristo is out of a Metall / Krack C / Gribaldi mare. That’s two crosses of Gribaldi, and this is another of the themes of the selection, the degree of line breeding in evidence.

The next colt, Mansion is also by Totilas, out of a Krack C / Jazz mare, he is even nicer, no trace of the ‘pony’ that ‘Toto’ can throw, so soft and light to the ground. He is not only selected to go to the performance test, but granted ‘premium’ status. Monte Cristo is selected.

Mansion – premium colt

Perhaps the pick of the Totili is the third in this group, Maclaren, out of a De Niro / Sandro Hit mare. This is just a wonderfully balanced, calm, loose supple colt, with real charisma. I understand that several of the top European stallion stations are circling, looking to add this one to their stallion roster.

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Magic Boy – passed

First out in the next group, Magic Boy, was bred in Holland but is two thirds German, by Fürstenball out of a Damsey / Flemmingh mare. While Damsey has been largely ignored by breeders in his homeland, despite his Grand Prix success, it seems the Dutch are keen to use a stallion like him with proven international GP performance.

I love this one, Max by Sezuan

The crowd favourite in the group is Max (Sezuan / Johnson /Partout), the chestnut is big and powerful, soft and rhythmic with a really intelligent look about him, he is selected. I am just pondering what a good job Johnson has done especially as a mare sire, when one of the trainers at one of Holland’s really top dressage stables tells me that they have now adopted a ‘No Johnson’ policy, they won’t even take horses out of Johnson mares. “They are too unpredictable,” I was told, “you can ride them for a couple of weeks, no problem, then suddenly they take off and they are really uncontrollable. We are no longer ready to take the risk…”

Maxson, so beautiful

One particularly beautiful and athletic colt by Johnson, was Maxon out of a Negro mare. So light to the ground, so much impulsion. Selected with a premium.

This time the ‘D’ stands for dressage – Merlot from the VDL stud

VDL started out jump, jump, jump, but has moved into the lucrative dressage market with the same smarts they brought to jumping. Their colt, Merlot (Bordeaux /Florencio / Vivaldi) is a movement machine and he receives a premium as well as the right to go to the performance test. His sire, the fourteen year old Bordeaux was proclaimed a keur stallion at the show. A Licensing Champion, Bordeaux produced two big tour horses out of his first crop, Ingrid Klimke’s Bluetooth and Cathrin Dufour’s brilliant new horse, Bohemian. Ironically it was announced the same day that Japanese team member Akane Kuroki had abandoned plans to ride Bordeaux at the Games, and sent him home to his owner, Joop van Uytert, as a schoolmaster for his wife, Renate.

Bordeaux receives a keur, that’s Joop with the flowers,
while his wife, in the saddle,  gets the horse! Photo Dirk Caremans

Madison out of a Jazz mare

Three colts by Ferdinand are selected out of the next group: Maddison out of a Jazz / Flemmingh mare, Mafkees (United / Jazz) and Mamorkus (Jazz / Zuidhorn).

Mafkees is later sold for €50,000 at the auction, the fifth highest price. The Ferdinands were an impressive group, soft, powerful, big, expressive without the tension.

Mamorkus, another athletic Ferdinand

The sole Hennessy (De Niro / Jazz / Ulft),  Maddox Mart out of a Bordeaux / Ferro / Darwin mare, was bred by the van Baalen family. Wonderful trot, really under himself, but inclined to get disunited in the canter, he is selected.

Maddox Mart 

As is Monte Carlo TC whose pedigree is very tight. Monte Carlo is by Dream Boy (Vivaldi / Ferro) out of a United / Jazz mare, that’s two crosses of Krack C to go with the two crosses of Jazz, he goes through to the performance test and receives a premium.

Mozart M, is line bred to Ferro three times. He’s by Franklin (by the Ferro grandson, Ampère, out of a Ferro / Flemmingh mare – that’s two crosses of Flemmingh) out of a Sando Hit / Ferro mare. Carl Hester always says he looks for Ferro on the papers, perhaps he should ask Mr van Uytert if he can ride his stallion… passed.

Most Wanted… Ferro concentrated.

Most Wanted (Franklin / Jazz / Havidoff / Ferro) also has three crosses of Ferro. Here is a colt with real stallion presence, a calm, soft mover, with a lovely loose back. Beautifully balanced canter, all the changes come up clean, and despite the best efforts of the guys with the whips to jazz him up, stays cool to the end, maybe that’s why he is not selected…

Marosi is such a scopey creature and really under himself the whole time. The German / Dutch cross works – he’s by the Westfalien Daily Diamond out of a straight Dutch mare – Dream Boy Silvano N / Havidoff. Passed.

Mooiman – so big, so refined

 I really loved Mooiman, by Desparado out of a Wynton / Ferro mare (that’s two crosses each of Ferro and Jazz). A big horse, 1.73, with the look of eagles, and a huge balanced canter. He goes on to the performance test along with another very nice Desperado. Mowgli VOD – out of a Jazz / Juventus / Rubinstein mare. The horse that really caught my eye was the chestnut Moreland Turfhorst, a lovely balanced pedigree and a lovely balanced mover. He is by Toto Jr, out of a Don Schufro / Rubin Royal / Jazz mare. He even received a warm round of applause for a soft trot.

Moreland Turfhorst, big soft movement

The last group were all by Toto Jr and they were mostly on the shortish side, all the better to balance and ride (I don’t think being under 1.70 has ever held Weihegold back), but it was amusing that one of the selected stallions, Majestic Taonga (Jazz / Hotline / Alabaster) was shown by Andreas Helgstrand who has publically expressed his liking for horses over 1.70 – Majestic Taonga is but 1.65.

Majestic Taonga – his height didn’t worry the Commission, they awarded a premium

To add to the height confusion, Andreas then paid the top price of the dressage collection €175,000 for Morricone (Ferro / Calypso I / Ladykiller) and this colt is a mere 1.62, but what a mover the little guy is, a lovely deliberate engaged trot, balanced canter and clean changes.

Morricone – good things come in small packages

Forty five colts were approved to go to the performance test, with five receiving premiums. Ferdinand provided three, but it really was the Totilas show. He had three approved including one premium, Mansion, while Toto Jr had five (including one premium, Majestic Taonga) and Total US two. Ferdinand sired three, Zonik had two, as did Franklin.

Now the action shifts to Ermelo and the performance test and it is the performance test – not the licensing – that is important, stressed the Commission chair, Bert Rutten, but for that my friends, you will have to wait for my interview with the commission – watch this space.

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