Analysis by Adriana van Tilburg: Berlin (ex Caspar) is quite simply a superstar! He had a wonderful competition career with Wim and Gerco Schröder, and is now proving himself as an excellent sire. I remember seeing him during a tour of young breeders from Holstein to Eurocommerce. He knew he was special. When all the Eurocommerce horses
went to auction, the Dutch almost lost Berlin. Luckily Stoeterij Duyselshof stepped in to buy him to make sure he would stay in the Netherlands.
Wiebe van der Kleij recalls: “Berlin not only had a lot of success in sport, he also shows that he is a great sire. It is not without reason that he became ‘keur’ last year with the KWPN. I told Wim van der Leegte (the owner of Stoeterij Duyselshof) that a stallion with such a performance record should stay in the Netherlands. We were very lucky that we could buy him.”
Winning team gold at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen with Gerco Schröder was one of Berlin’s career highlights. Berlin and Schröder finished sixth individually. They were also members of the gold medal team in Mannheim in 2007 at the European Championships.
Berlin’s offspring show that they have inherited his quality for showjumping. His son, Zerlin M out of Tatjana Bo (Concorde) is jumping currently at 1m55 with Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and was successful with Jos Lansink at the same level. Others who are competing at the highest level: Caspar 232 out of Pagrada (Padarco van ‘t Hertsveld) is jumping at 1m60 with Emanuele Gaudiano; Basic out of Janien (Dutchboy) 1m60 with Guy Williams.
Some promising youngsters include six-year-old Vip du Forezan out of Queen Girl Kervec (Diamant de Semilly), successful in youngster classes in Vilamoura this year with Julien Gonin; six-yearold Beyonce Z out of Ramona XVI (Cardino) who was successful in youngster classes in Mijas with Steven Franks; and seven-year-old mare, Dolores, out of Manja (Voltaire) was successful in youngster classes in Vejer de la Frontera with Richard Howley...
