1993 – 2010 172 cm Black
Breeder: Marika Wermer Mittenaar
Gribaldi is out of a mare by Ibikus, a successful sire in Germany and then in Denmark – and has another cross of the same stallion on his sire’s dam line. Ibikus – like Kostolany – stood at the stud of Otto Langels, and he rode the stallion to the title Champion Riding Horse at Wiesbaden and Hamburg.
Ibikus and Otto Langels in action
Dutch stallion owners Mr de Jong and Joop van Uytert purchased Gribaldi after he had been proclaimed champion at the 1995 Trakehner Licensing in Neumünster. Standing in Holland, Gribaldi was approved for the KWPN, Oldenburg and the Danish Warmblood society. He benefitted from a massive and glossy advertising and publicity campaign – although his progeny were also doing a pretty good job of promoting him at the same time with many of them starring in young horse classes.
Gribaldi was also doing his bit, at the age of four he won the stallion class in s’Hertogenbosch and took reserve champion honours in the Pavo Cup for four-year-old dressage horses. Later he was competing at Grand Prix level with Edward Gal with considerable success. The combination won the 2004 Zwolle International Stallion Show Kür with 73.70% and the Kür at the CHIO Rotterdam.
Gribaldi was proclaimed Elite Stallion by the Trakehner society in 2003 and in 2005, based on the performance of his 6- and 7-year old offspring, the KWPN decided to proclaim Gribaldi a Keur Stallion. In order to become a KWPN Keur stallion, a sire has to have a sport index of more than 140 points with a reliability of 75%, and has to be passing superior conformation on to the offspring. In 2008 Gribaldi was proclaimed Trakehner stallion of the year.
At the time of his death in 2010, there were 707 KWPN registered Gribaldi mares, over 300 of which had received the ster predicate.
Painted Black at the WEG in Normandy –
taking care of his young rider, Morgan Barbançon
He sired Grand Prix horses and Dutch A-team horses Totilas, Sisther de Jeu and Painted Black. Others included: Beatriz Ferrer-Salat’s Peter Pan, BMC Pasternak with Coby van Baalen, Zardin Firfod with Patrik Kittel and Girasol, Nadine Capellmann’s Grand Prix horse. He produced 16 licensed sons including: Anky van Grunsven’s Painted Black (Ferro), 2004 VSN Trophy winner Game Boy (Pion), Hofrat (Guter Planet), Distelzar (Arogno), the record selling Trakehner at the Medingen Auction, Hoftänzer (Guter Planet), Rheinklang (TCN Partout), Galando (Ulft), the Danish stallion, Zardin-Firfod (Schwadroneur), the Belgian owned and French licensed Rosenprinz D (Rosenkavalier) and Paulousa Convenace (Texas Jack).
A sensation in Germany, the Gribaldi grand-son, Hotline
As Jan Tönjes points out, in Germany it is his grand-son, Hotline that generated great excitement: “Gribaldi’s best offspring in Germany is Hofrat, runner up at the 2000 grading and sire of the 2005 Hanoverian champion stallion Hotline (out of a De Niro dam). The gorgeous dark bay, Hotline, is of a different kind. His movements are outstanding, his willingness to work unbelievable. When Paul Schockemöhle and Danish premier stud Blue Hors decided to join and bid €800.000 for Hotline, Germany’s horseworld was turned upside down. 800,000 euros – unbelievable! The following February, Hotline was shown the first time under saddle. Even experienced breeders couldn’t believe their eyes. Totally relaxed with maximum activity from behind, the Hanoverian champion took his laps. The people in the stands were so thrilled that they forgot to applaud! Of course the Trakehners are also proud of Hotline because they always see the improvement of Warmblood breeds as part of their breeding philosophy. And if Paul Schockemöhle, who never made a secret out of his general distaste for Trakehner horses buys such a horse, then the Trakehners must have changed.”
In Holland, it is Gribaldi’s son, Totilas who has astonished the dressage world with a series of record scores at Grand Prix level in the world’s top dressage championships with Edward Gal in the saddle.
At the 2010 KWPN stallion show, the official retirement of Gribaldi from competition was made at a very moving ceremony that featured his Grand Prix sons, Painted Black and Totilas, and a final farewell Kür with Edward. A day later, Gribaldi was loaded on the truck, headed for Paul Schockemöhle’s stallion show. He was to stay for a while at the PSI barn before returning to Holland. Alas that was not to be, within a week the stallion was dead from a tear in his heart.
It’s a farewell to Gribaldi as he is loaded on the truck to go to Germany and PSI
On the 2014 WBFSH rankings, Gribaldi was in first place, with 29,497 points, earned by 25 representatives. The highest points earner was Totilas with 2627 points but there were several shooting stars, including the Dutch bred stallion, Unee BB (Dageraad) with Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, who earned 2146 points, while Kingsley Siro and Danielle Heijkoop earned 2229 points, and opened the 2015 season with a win over the great Parzival.
Jessica and Unee, now retired…
On the 2015, WBFSH rankings, Gribaldi was 2nd, this time Unee BB was his highest point scorer (2372) followed by Siro NOP (2281) and the new star of British dressage, Atterupgaards Orthilia (2049).
Atterupgaards Orthilia and Fiona Bigwood star at the Euros at Aachen
On the 2014 KWPN breeding values, Gribaldi was in fourth place on the list of stallions with a reliability of 90+, with a value of 154 (97%). He is the sire of 2902 Dutch registered horses, four years and older, of whom, 910 have competed – 31.357% which is just slightly less than the competitor ratio of the head of the standings, Jazz, at 32.431%.
Total US
Even in 2020, Gribaldi occupies 23rd place, and the Tokyo Games showed the extent of his influence. His son Totilas provided two of the starters in the Grand Prix, while another son, Easy Game, had one, and Gribaldi himself was the sire of another.
Totilas, way out in front on earnings
In October 2018, the KWPN released an evaluation of the most successful KWPN stallions ‘in the sport’, and not surprisingly, Jazz topped the list with 666 offspring competing at Z1 level or higher. The next most successful was Gribaldi with 477 followed by Flemmingh with 378. Jazz was also the most successful sire of progeny competing at Grand Prix level with 4.2% or 131 GP representatives. The next best ratio went to Contango with 24 offspring (3.4%). However when the number of progeny were taken into account, the most successful sire of Z1 level progeny was Sir Sinclair (Lord Sinclair / Flemmingh) with 21.9% of his offspring, followed by Jazz’s sire, Cocktail (Purioso / Le Val Blanc), with Jazz in equal 3rd place with a ratio of 21.2%.
Looking at his results in the Hanoverian Stallion book 2019, we see 132 competitors winning €1,211,403, with seven horses with winnings of over €10,000: Girasol (€156,643), Painted Black (€62,614), Seal (€14,452), Sisther de Jeu (€28,100), TSF Rudi’s Memory (€10,081), Totilas (€347,849) and Unee (€437,172). He does not appear in the 2021 book.
Gribaldi’s 2019 FN breeding value as a sire of young horses is 132, for open competition, 147. On the Hanoverian values he scores 123 for both type and dressage, but a negative 90 for limbs.
