By Christopher Hector
Yet again, the Dutch breeders dominate the dressage studbook rankings, and this year the result is also a triumph for the Trakehner, Gribaldi, who came to the Netherlands from Germany.
The success of the black Trakehner is closely followed by Dutch-bred Bordeaux who is by one of the stars of Dutch breeding, United, but out of a mare by Gribaldi. On Bordeaux’s mareline there’s even a touch of the great Donnerhall, who dominated these rankings for so many years, now just a shadow of his former glory.
Gribaldi son Totilas sired Gotilas du Feuillard (Ferro), sixth place in the Dutch team. While Bordeaux sired Carl Hester’s Fame (Rhodium), ranked third for KWPN. British dressage star Carl Hester is full of praise for the chestnut stallion, and as he told Horse & Hound “Bordeaux almost has a Guinness Book of World Records appeal for the number of Grand Prix horses he’s produced – from a range of mares. What it all boils down to is one thing: that he’s given them all a work ethic to be Grand Prix, whatever their shape and size. My Grand Prix horse Fame’s best quality is his Duracell battery work ethic, which I see when I look at the others by Bordeaux.”
Not surprisingly, number one in the KWPN team is Glamourdale, by the Rheinlander Lord Leatherdale, but out of the solidly Dutch, Thuja by Negro out of an Ahorn mare.
The Oldenburg studbook claims second place, with their team headed by Bordeaux son, Bluetooth. Bluetooth is out of one of Paul Schockemöhle’s celebrated broodmares, Loreana, who is by Don Schufro out of Loretta (Ramino x Welt As) the dam of the Hit brothers, Sandro and Diamond Hit.
Second highest point scorer is Total Hope (Totilas) out of the great Weihegold (Don Schufro x Sandro Hit). Total Hope is easily the best of the 17 foals Isabell Werth’s former superstar has produced.
Ranked third is Denoix, by Destano a son of Desperados. Denoix is out of a daughter of Pik Noir – now there’s a blast from the past; Donnerhall over Pik Bube!
Number four Oldenburg is Maxima Bella by Millennium by Easy Game (Gribaldi), out of a mare by Christ. Both Bordeaux and Gribaldi were discovered by master breeder Joep van Uytert, who says it was love at first sight: “When I first saw Gribaldi, it was 25 years ago, he was two-and-a-half years old, he was already a real stallion, a real stallion type, he was the winner at the Trakehner stallion show. We bought him there and then he came to Holland, he did a good performance test, then the first crop of his foals came one year later. At the time they said Trakehners were a bit normal, nice types but trouble with the canter and hind leg, but a lot of breeders were still interested in him and bred every year with him.
“Then his first horses came under the saddle, and by the time they were six or seven, you saw that they had a lot of potential for the piaffe/passage, and that is the strong quality of Trakehner. You see a lot of Trakehner horses who have a bit normal movement, but when they come back they have a really good cadence in piaffe/passage, and that’s the highlight of the breeding of Gribaldi – and also, of course, his son Easy Game.”
Bordeaux has a wonderfully balanced pedigree. He is by United who combines the blood of two of Anky van Grunsven’s Grand Prix stars, Krack C and Partout, with (more!) Gribaldi. Bordeaux’s dam line takes us across the border to Germany, introducing the blood of the great Donnerhall, while the bottom line takes us to Adone, the dam of Nicole Uphoff’s wonderful Rembrandt.
Again, Joep was immediately smitten: “The first moment I saw Bordeaux in the paddock as a foal, he was a horse that packaged his stride so effortlessly and had a smooth flowing topline, showing ample technique and interconnection between his forehand and hindquarters, which also emerged in training.”
The once mighty Hanoverian book has slipped to third, with the help of a couple of descendants of Gribaldi. Their second highest representative is Toto Junior who was born in the Netherlands, out of a mare by the De Niro son, Desperados who died at the age of 19, and we can only ponder just how influential the black stallion might have been had he not died so young. Third in their team is the Toto Junior son, Taminiau out of a daughter of Sandro Hit, another stallion who has slipped from sight. The Hanoverian grouping also highlights another fading line, the Westfalian F line. The top Hanoverian is the mighty Freestyle (Fidermark) out of a Donnerhall mare, while their group is rounded up by First Class, by the Florestan grandson Fürstenball...
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