By Marc Verrier
Photography: Peter Llewellyn
During the three-year-old Selle Français Stallion Championship, held in Saint-Lô at the end of February, some breeders deplored the absence of the Selle Français called ‘Originels’. Indeed, as with all the world’s studbooks, the trend is now largely towards cross breeding.
However, at a highest levels, the Selle Français Originel (SFO) is still very present and is maintaining its role in top-class competitions.
At the end of 2013, in response to the desire of some breeders to identify and highlight the original bloodlines of the Selle Français breed, the SF studbook created the label ‘Selle Français Originel’. To qualify for this label, a Selle Français must have in its first four generations only those bloodlines that constitute the Selle Français, which are the SF, the Anglo-Arab, the Arab, the AQPS, the half-blood, the Thoroughbred, and the French Trotter.
Of the 25 three-year-old stallions approved this year in Saint-Lô, none could avail themselves of this SFO label and only five (one of whome was absent), of the 70 participants could claim its profile.
World rankings
Nevertheless, among the six Selle Français taken into account for the last world studbook ranking established by the WBFSH, where the Selle Français stood in fifth place, two are SFO: Usual Suspect d'Auge (Jarnac x Papillon Rouge x Narcos II x Night and Day xx), and Urvoso du Roch (Nervoso x Grand d'Escla x Samuel AA x Flor II AA). Even better, if we take into account the 17 SF classified among the 100 best horses in the world, eight of them are eligible for this SFO label, or nearly half. Among the WBFSH’s top-100 stallions worldwide in 2019, eight of the 11 SF (72%) in the standings are also ‘Originel’.
And we can even add Nabab de Rêve (Quidam de Revel - Melodie en Fa x Artichaut), seventh in the world and registered with BWP into the equation as his genetics are exclusively SF... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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