By Jean Llewellyn / press release
Photography: Hannoveraner Verband/Arnd Bronkhorst

Since 2009, the Hanoverian Grande Prize has been awarded to a stallion between the ages of 10 and 12 at the beginning of each breeding season. In 2024, this honour was bestowed upon Toto Jr. (Totilas - Desperada x Desperados)

Born March 29, 2011, Toto Jr. is a stallion who has only rarely been used in Hannover, but he has proven his quality through his licensed sons – 43 to date. Several of these are already successfully competing at PSG/Inter 1 level dressage tests, including: Glock’s Taminiau (2015/Hann Vitamin C x Sandro Hit; bred by J.W. Holtland) ridden by Hans Peter Minderhoud; and Gorgeous Latino (2016/ KWPN Blackmanda x Hexagon’s Rubiqil; bred by Stal Hexagon) ridden by Sabine Schut-Kery (USA).
The awarding of the Grande-Prize to a mid-life stallion is linked to the hope that he will have a lasting positive influence on Hannoverian breeding. Normally, this is the case when the stallion is widely used in the population, and mainly via the mare base. In the case of this year’s winner Toto Jr., bred by Zuchtgemeinschaft Schmidt from Naumburg, things are different. From the first phase of his breeding career in the Netherlands, his influence is currently more evident on the sire’s side because, to date, only three of his daughters have been registered in Hannover, but 10 of his sons have been licensed and registered in stallion book I.
Toto Jr.’s dam, who is a full sister of the Moritzburg state stud stallion Decurio, came into the possession of the Zuchtgemeinschaft Schmidt via the Verden foal auction; Toto Jr. being her first foal. The black stallion was still quite young when he was licensed in Verden in 2013 and moved to the Glock’s Horse Performance Centre in the Netherlands via the stallion sales, where he was sold for €100,000... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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