BY SÉBASTIEN ROULLIER VARLAMOV
PHOTOGRAPHY: FEI/MARTIN DOKOUPIL; FEI/HERVÉ BONNARD
From the top price of the Fences sale in September 2000 (FENCES auction) for Jalis de Riverland, to the promising performances of Arqana de Riverland, who would have allowed the stud farm to be at the forefront of the 2024 Paris Olympics
The breeding program built from scratch by Mickaël Varliaud is located in Alloué, between Angoulême, Limoges, and Poitiers, and has become an indisputable leader in the French production of sports horses.
More realistic than dreamy, the 46-year-old breeder – a professional among so many amateurs – assumes a vision based on rigorous management, measured risk taking, and mastery of all aspects of his profession. Having left school at an early age, the Charentais was able to both surround himself with competent people and also to learn from others. He readily mentions those who inspired him: Joris de Brabander (de Muze), the VDL system, and the Haras de la Roque. After three decades of relentless construction, Mickaël Varliaud believes that his operation has reached a level where he intends – as expressed in the interview granted to Sébastien Roullier Varlamov from Grand Prix magazine, which we publish with his approval – to stabilize it while continuing to improve its quality.
◆ Mickaël, the Riverland affix has become a brand that has exported far beyond France. In 28 years, you have bred 1,332 products. Of the 1,043 candidates of competition age, 72 have performance indices of more than 140. This ratio of 6.9% is far above the national average, standing at about 2.5%. Isn’t that your greatest success?
Yes, I believe so. You can't please everyone, but the numbers and the results speak for themselves. Many horses have competed or are currently competing at a high level, and I think the best generations are yet to come. Among them, I'm convinced that many horses will reward us for all the work we've put in over these years.
◆ Jalis de Riverland (ISO 172/06), who died last winter; Arqana de Riverland (ISO 174/23); Eleven de Riverland (ISO 172/25: SF, Kannan x Diamant de Semilly); and Derby de Riverland (ISO 172 / 25, SF, Kannan x Arc de Triomphe) are the four highest-indexed offspring of your breeding program to date. What are your thoughts on their careers?
They had completely different paths. Jalis will always be remembered as the first to have raised the Riverland flag at a high level, which means a great deal to me. Even though Bosty [Roger Yves Bost] had a very good stable at that time, Jalis achieved excellent results and more than lived up to the expectations placed on him from a very young age. In fact, he remains to this day the third-best performer in the Dirka line after Quidam de Revel (ISO 185/92) and Arqana. Arqana is my favorite mare. She has something incredible, something amazing about her. What generosity and what a powerful stride! She has everything you look for in a sport horse.
As for Eleven, he's a horse who confirms what we thought about him from a very young age. He's very powerful and sensitive, which isn't always easy to manage. He and Nicolas [Sers] have become a great match, and the partnership is really progressing well with each competition, as their results prove.
Derby is something else entirely. He comes from the Loripierre line, which has produced more than one champion in the sport [she is notably the grandmother of Orient Express*HDC, bred by Patrice Boureau]. Derby is a very sensitive horse who needed time to mature before he could achieve such excellent results, first with Thibault and then with Nicola Philippaerts. I hope he continues his momentum in 2026.
◆ Riverland Stud Farm has built its success on the richness of its gene pool. How did you build it? Are you continuing to develop it? Is there still a bloodline you would like to get your hands on?
For years, I reinvested almost all the proceeds from the sale of Jalis de Riverland [ISO 172/06, SF, Bleu Blanc Rouge II x Kissovo – sold at the age of three in Septemer 2000 by the Fences Agency for three million francs, equivalent to €692,000 in today's purchasing power] into genetics. This allowed me to build a very diverse pool of bloodlines, which I'm happy with. So we're less actively searching than in the past, but if an opportunity arises, I'll seize it...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE IN THE ONLINE EDITION OF BREEDING NEWS
