By Marc Verrier
Photography: Marc Verrier

From August 27 to September 5, the Grande Semaine de Fontainebleau crowned the best young horses aged four, five, six, and seven years. This 2021 Grande Semaine also saw the highest attendance of the last decade with a massive public turn-out, so commercial activity was, naturally, very strong with important transactions and many horses sold in France and abroad.

In total, more than 1,200 horses were entered, with four sires clearly standing out with 50 or more offspring. Cornet Obolensky (Clinton x Heartbreaker) and Kannan (Voltaire x Nimmerdor) were the most represented sires with 55 offspring, followed by Diamant de Semilly (51: Le Tot de Semilly x Elf III) and Contendro (50: Contender x Reichsgraf). Farther down the list are:
• Vagabond de la Pomme (SBS: Vigo d’Arsouilles x For Pleasure) – 34
• Canturo (Holst: Canturo x Acorado I) – 24
• Mylord Carthago (SF: Carthago Z x Jalisco B) – 21
• Ogrion des Champs (SF: Kannan x Domino du Moyon) – 18
• Vigo d'Arsouilles (BWP: Nabab de Reve x Fleuri du Manoir) – 18
• Rock’n Roll Semilly (SF: Diamant de Semilly x Apache d’Adriers) – 16
• Montender (KWPN: Contender x Burggraaf) – 15.
If we compare the number of offspring in Fontainebleau with the number of births in the corresponding years, for stallions with more than 10 offspring in Fontainebleau, it is the SBS Ogano Sitte (Darco x Avontuur) who has the best success percentage with 12 offspring for only 72 Selle Français and/or Anglo-Arabian births, i.e. 16.67% of his production in Fontainebleau.

Cornet Obolensky also has a nice success rate with 55 offspring for 356 births, i.e. 15.45%. Next we find Contendro (50/482) at 10.37%, Rock’n Roll Semilly (16/162) 9.88%, Vagabond de la Pomme (34/363) 9.37% and Mylord Carthago (21/225) 9.33%.
Amongst the stallions with the most double clear rounds at four years old, or classified in the five- and six-year-old championships, it is logical that we find at the top the stallions with the most entries. But the order is different this time, with Contendro having 15 classified offspring out of 50 at the start (30%) against 12 for Cornet Obolensky (21.81%), nine for Diamant de Semilly (17.65%), eight for Vagabond de la Pomme (23.53%) and seven for Kannan (12.73%).
Also to be noted in this ranking, the good statistics of Andiamo Semilly (SF: Diamant de Semilly x Muguet du Manoir), whose oldest offsprings are only five years old, with four classified for 13 offspring at the start (30,77%), as well as Candy de Nantuel (SF: Luidam x Diamant de Semilly), who saw the arrival of his first four-year-old offspring on the grounds, with three classified out of 10 starters (30%).

Another stallion also attracted our attention: Canabis d'Albain (Baloubet du Rouet x Kannan). With only 16 births in 2017, his first year of breeding, four of his offspring qualified in Fontainebleau; three with double clear rounds (75%!). A stallion whose coming generations will be interesting to follow.

Four-year-old championship

In each age group, two titles were awarded: for females on one side, and males and geldings on the other. In the mares, the champion was Harley de Hus. Bred by Xavier Marie at the Haras de Hus, and ridden by Gille Botton, Harley de Hus is a daughter of Vivaldi du Seigneur, a stallion owned by the Haras de Hus, and Shirel de Kreisker (Diamant de Semilly x Muguet du Manoir). A maternal line that has produced great champions, such as First de Launay (Laudanum xx), an Athens 2004 Olympic Games team member with Florian Angot for France, or Quickly de Kreisker (Diamant de Semilly) with Morocco’s Abdelkebir Ouaddar – Rio 2016 OG... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber

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