By Adriana van Tilburg
Photography: Peter Llewellyn

The Hanoverian stallion Goldfever I (Grosso Z - Gundula x Galvano, breeder: Sigurd Hochmuth) was an outstanding sport horse for 11 years under the saddle of Ludger Beerbaum. His story is a special one that has a great deal to do with coincidence and luck.

Goldfever’s roots are in Hanover, and breeding director of the Hannoveraner Verband, Ulrich Hahne, explains about his bloodlines: “Unfortunately, the breeder himself is no longer alive, but his son Holger is currently still breeding with a full sister of Goldfever I. Sigurd Hochmuth was a typical Hanoverian breeder who successfully bred with one or two mares on a small scale. His entire breeding is based almost exclusively on the granddam of Goldfever.
“The accumulation of G-blood, and above all the combination of Grande and Gotthard, has led to great horses in many cases. For Pleasure's mother Gigantin by Grannus (Grande) x Goya (Gotthard) is another example of this. At the Hänigsen Stud, the Grande son Graphit met daughters of Gotthard directly. This combination has had a positive influence on Hanoverian jumping lines.
“The dam line of Jugendzelt is a relatively small line of mares from which the horses of Mr. Hochmuth particularly stand out. Historically, our EDP only shows 38 registered mares. Even if the historical data is not complete, it can be seen from this that this strain is not very widespread.
“If we look at Goldfever’s six-generation pedigree, we find out with his mother that she has through Damhirsch a blood connection to Duellant. When bred to daughters of his mother’s father Duellant, Grande produced very good horses. Goldfever II’s talent for dressage is certainly based on this. Grosso Z was also influenced by the thoroughbred influence of Furioso xx, an inbred component on Der Löwe xx and the aforementioned Grande x Gotthard combination. These aspects may be part of the ingredients that made Goldfever such a special horse.”
His sire Grosso Z (Goliath II Z - Füchsin x Furioso II) won his stallion performance test with 150 points. He was successful in jumping and was later successful at St. Georges and Inter I. Goldfever I was the first foal out of Gundula, whose offspring achieved great results in both dressage and jumping. Goldfever I’s full brother Goldfever II was approved in Verden in 2006. Galvano also won his stallion performance test, while Damhirsch was very meaningful for the Duellant line in Westfalia.
Holger Hochmuth recalls: “I rode the grandmother of Goldfever, Dana by Damhirsch, at 1m20. Back then I was at a clinic given by Hermann Schridde, who was based in our area and was coaching the German jumping team at the time. During the clinic Dana sustained a tendon injury, and and Hermann Schridde said, ‘That is a good mare, I would breed with a mare like her’. That is how we rolled into breeding, and using Galvano was a super coincidence. We still lived at that time in Koldingen and our neighbor was Karl-Heinz Meyer who bred Galvano and was a friend of my father. We used Galvano who proved himself to be an all-round producer. Grosso Z, whom my father liked, stood at stud with Horst Freise in Wedemark, so we tried him for Gundula. In total she had eight foals, with four by Grosso Z.
“While my father was still alive we had quite a few mares, but now I have downscaled my breeding to just two. One is the full sister of Goldfever, plus I have a granddaughter of Goldfever’s dam. Both the mother and grandmother of Goldfever had an outstanding character, although I know that Goldfever could really show that he was a stallion. But he did one season natural covering when he stood at Freise, so he immediately recognized a mare in heat. We also went to him in that year with a mare, so I fully understand that it is like winning the lottery with breeding a stallion like Goldfever, and also like winning the lottery that he inherits the best possibilities... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO BREEDING NEWS
SUBSCRIBERS CAN READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY LOGGING IN AND RETURNING TO THIS PAGE