By Jo de Roo
Photography: Courtesy Studfarm Zangersheide

Like so many other events, Zangersheide’s autumn stallion expertise took place without an audience due to the coronavirus restrictions. The decision was, therefore, taken to move the event from hometown Lanaken to the Equestrian Center de Peelbergen in the Netherlands, where a total of 16 stallions were approved.

When we analyse the sire lines of the approved stallions, the French progenitors Diamant de Semilly and Quidam de Revel stand out, followed by Corrado I (Holsteiner) and Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve (BWP).
From Diamant de Semilly, number two in the most recent WBFSH sire ranking, two direct sons were accepted for breeding, namely Rising Star (bred by Mario De Backer out of Calvanula Z, a daughter of Calvados Z) and Rien A Declarer MxL, bred by Pieter Merckx and Maria Linander. Regarding the latter’s dam, La Dolce Vita MxL, Pieter Merckx said: “Before she competed briefly in France, up to 1m20 level, she produced three descendants, before she was injured in sport. When she recovered we had her covered again. In 2015, she became the dam of Pompeii MxL (Cornet Obolensky/ex Windows van het Costersveld) and in 2016 produced Quelle Diamant MxL, a full sister to Rien A Declarer MxL. Quelle Diamant gave birth to a foal by Tobago Z this year and is again in foal to Tobago Z. La Dolce Vita also produced a colt by Tobago Z this year, christened Troublemaker MxL. Next year we are expecting a foal from Old Chap Tame out of La Dolce Vita.
“She is a beautiful dam who inherited the sharpness of her sire, Bamako de Muze. La Dolce Vita’s dam, Galina van de Zeshoek, had no sporting career. Galina’s dam, Douwinaourai, is a half-sister to Bijou Orai who, in turn, is the dam of Eldorado van de Zeshoek. We consciously chose not to start Galina in sport because we feared that she would one day be sold. In retrospect, we should perhaps have brought her out in the sport. Ninja MxL, a seven-year-old daughter by I’m Special de Muze out of Galina, participated at the final in Falsterbo and is ready to perform at 1m30 level. We still have several young descendants from Galina of which we expect a few nice things for the future.”
Galina has already issued her business card in breeding several times. Via La Dolce Vita is the granddam of the newly approved Rien A Declarer MxL and via Mylona van de Zeshoek (Vigo d’Arsouilles) she is the granddam of approved stallion Romeo van de Zeshoek (Eldorado van de Zeshoek).
La Dolce Vita MxL belongs to the BWP dam line 59, a performance line of showjumping cracks such as Valdorai, Bijou Orai and Eldorado van de Zeshoek. Merckx continued by saying, “It is a pity that we didn’t let Galina and her half-sister Jakarta van de Zeshoek (Numero Uno) start in showjumping competitions because we are now missing a generation. The next generation will arrive, but that will take a while. This year we had a son by Emerald van’t Ruytershof out of Jakarta, called Energy MxL Z, who was sold during the BWFA auction. Jakarta’s descendants are usually very sharp and sensitive, while the offspring of her half-sister Galina are calmer, have more inner blood and are a bit easier to handle.” Rien A Declarer MxL was also sold at auction as a foal at the Veulenveiling Midden-Nederland sale.”
Explaining the MxL suffix, Merckx said; “My family name is Merckx, that of my wife is Linander.” And he is no stranger to breeding as his father, Paul, bred the famous progenitor Eldorado van de Zeshoek, number 17 in the world ranking for the best suppliers of international showjumpers. “My wife is a veterinary surgeon and following her studies we left for France. Most of our horses are staying with us.” Merckx divides his time between working as a professional accountant and his horses. “The number of foals that we breed every year is increasing. In the past we yearly bred two or three foals, nowadays seven. The colts are usually sold, the fillies are kept. We have been breeding for seven or eight years. At the time, I rode the dams we breed with. Once I stopped riding, we started using the dams in our studfarm.’ Pieter has already achieved several successes: ‘This year Rien A Declarer MxL was approved as a stallion in Zangersheide, last year it was Qing Qong MxL, a son by Matisse de Mariposa out of a daughter by Amke-S. He was also approved by Zangersheide.’
Diamant did not only exert his influence through two newly approved sons. Via three sons (namely Diarado, Dominator 2000 Z, and Emerald van ’t Ruytershof) he became the grandfather of three stallions accepted for breeding. We are talking about Dior (Diarado - Alesia x Con Air 7, bred by Henk Jan Noordhof), Emidor Z (Emerald van ’t Ruytershof - Cacilla Z x Cooper van de Heffinck, breeder: Frank Elias) and Da Vinci van de Begijnakker Z (Dominator 2000 Z)... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber

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