By Jo de Roo
Photography: Sportfot and Peter Llewellyn
BWP kicked off the stallion approval season in Belgium in mid-January. During the second phase, in which only stallions born in 2018 could participate, the jury selected 46 of the 113 candidate stallions to progress to the final phase in March.
Almé is most strongly represented in the sire lines, followed by Diamant de Semilly (five), Cambridge (five), Darco (four), Stakkato (four) and Clinton (four). Young stallions such as Nixon van ’t Meulenhof (2013) and Matisse de Mariposa (2012) both have two selected sons, while Ermitage Kalone (2014) has three. Hunters’ Scendro (2007), Ducati van Schuttershof (2009) and Bamako de Muze (2001) are all represented by two sons.
The influence of Almé
In total, 10 stallions carry the performance blood of the French progenitor Almé, with the offspring of Ducati van Schuttershof being very impressive. Of his three presented sons, two have progressed to the third phase. Ducati is by Kashmir van Schuttershof, and it’s also important to mention that his dam, Narcotique Schuttershof, is a daughter of Qerly Chin, a dam that was outstanding at five-star level and has a significant share in the well-known BWP performance line 34.
Ducati has already competed Grand Prix in partnership with Gilles Thomas. One of the two selected Ducati sons is called STB Silvio van de Koekelberg, born out of Jardenti van de Koekelberg (Cardento - Fleuri van de Koekelberg x Winningmood VD Arenberg) and bred by Guy Ganseman.
Guy Ganseman breeds on a small scale, meaning just one or two foals each year. Silvio’s dam, Jardenti van de Koekelberg, is by Cardento out of the international showjumper Fleuri van de Koekelberg. According to Ganseman, “There were several well-known riders who wanted to compete with Fleuri, but that was not affordable.
“I then sold her to the Vermeir family, the owners of STB Horses’ They moved her to Dirk Demeersman who jumped very well with Fleuri from the start, for instance during the world championship for seven-year-olds in Zangersheide. Under Dirk’s saddle Fleuri has performed at international five-star level. Dirk stopped riding her when he was appointed as coach of the Belgian showjumping team. Afterwards, Steven Vermeir wrote the sequel to Fleuri’s sports career.
“But the story starts with Quelle Veine-CR, a Clinton x Heartbreaker dam. I bought her when she was three years old. At one point, I sold her to Dirk de Vidts, the founder of studfarm Fernantes. Quelle Veine was a good showjumper. Not a simple one, but she has nevertheless jumped at international level. She made my breeding great as I loved Clinton.
“I went to the studfarm ‘van de Heffinck’ because, at the time, stallion keeper Hubert Hamerlinck had several stallions, including Winningmood. I had seen this stallion jump in the cycle as a youngster which wasn’t surprising. When Ludo Philippaerts started riding Winningmood, the story changed. The stallion has been underestimated and was mainly used in sports.
“I used Winningmood with Quelle Veine, which resulted in the birth of Fleuri van de Koekelberg. I then combined Fleuri with Cardento and Jardenti was born. As a foal, Jardenti was injured, so having a sport career at a high level was impossible.”
Jardenti was subsequently used exclusively as a broodmare. “She not only produced Silvio, but also Nikita van de Koekelberg. Last year, Steven Vermeir and Nikita achieved great results in competitions for seven-year-olds. Nikita has a lot of showjumping qualities, and the Vermeir family has already bought several foals and horses from me, including Silvio when he was a foal. Jardenti’s descendants are generally good and willing to work.”
Ganseman explains why he chose Ducati as a partner for Jardenti in 2017: “Actually it was because of Kashmir, Ducati’s sire. I was using Kashmir at the time on dams with Neroli blood, which he managed to improve. At one point, I went to the stallion keeper Willy Van Impe to tell him that I wanted to use Kashmir again, but the stud fee was €4,000 with a pregnant dam guarantee. That was a lot of money and the reason why I used Ducati instead of his sire. Ducati’s offspring is uniform, producing athletic, beautiful horses.
Two Ducati sons have also been selected for the upcoming KWPN stallion approval. However, he does not yet have a large offspring. Under the saddle of Gilles Thomas, Ducati is doing well in the sport. He has already performed at four- and five-star level.”.. To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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