NEW ZEALAND (by Sally Reid) With its provisional acceptance into the WBFSH, the classification tour of the New Zealand Warmblood Association (NZWA) is now all the more important for NZ breeders. Classification allows horses to move from NZWA registration to the NZWA Studbook, with those scoring between 78-79.9% awarded Merit status, and a score of 80%-plus awarded Excellence.
A total of five horses – three mares and two stallions – received the coveted Excellence award this year, under German assessor Gerd Kust.
Stallions
A son of world number one showjumping sire Chacco-Blue, bought at a dispersal sale in East Germany in 2010, was the overall champion stallion and highest-scoring horse of the tour, with an outstanding 86.3%. The 10-year-old Chacco Sil- ver (out of Cherowa x Cellestial) was described by Kust as “big, compact; powerful movement; uphill elastic canter, very good jumping nearly excellent (10), bascule, and appears to have unlimited scope”.
Chacco Silver and his dam Cherowa were bred by Rüdi- ger Hartig in Germany. Cherowa’s sire, Cellestial (Cantus) was 2006’s Olden- burg VTV showjumping stal- lion of the year so, combined with the fabulous lines of Chacco-Blue, this young horse has extremely good jumping genes! He is the res- ident sire at Matawhio Sport Horses, a boutique breeding and training farm near Auck- land, run by the Willis family. His eldest progeny are now five and include the promis- ing jumper Chio MS (out of Dollar Girl MS x Dollar de la Pierre). And, waiting in the wings, are some ver y attrac- tive youngstock and foals with the blood of sires such as Indoctro and Lux Z. In fact, a Chacco Silver x Lux Z x Matterhorn filly foal scored 81.75% in her assessment with Gerd Kust during the tour.
Reser ve champion stallion, with a score of 81, was Starlight Rubbles (Ricardo Z - Starlight Pebbles x Da- montez LS) for Starlight Farm. This NZ Warmblood is eight years old, and was described by Kust as “a qual- ity stallion that would be ap- proved in any European countr y”. Through Ricardo Z, Starlight Rubbles carries some excellent blood, in- cluding that of Ramiro and Furioso. His dam, Starlight Pebbles, is a full sister to the UK-based eventer Darius IV, who competed with Blyth Tait. The stallion was bred at Starlight Farm by Tina Fagin, who also stands his damsire, Damontez LS...
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