By Jo de Roo
Photography: FEI/Christoph Tanière; FEI/Liz Gregg;

The 2023 SBS International Selection Show – the official stallion approval of the Belgian studbook SBS – took place at the end of February in Gesves, during which the jury approved a total of 15 new stallions for the studbook.

Daniël Maillart, one of the jury members, summarized as follows: “We have some very good stallions but, unfortunately, not enough. Although that makes mathematical sense because when the number of registered stallions decreases, the number of good horses also decreases. This year only 29 candidate stallions were present during the stallion selection, and that’s a low number.”
In 2021, the SBS stallion approval could not take place due to Covid-19 and all the registered stallions were approved with reservations. The selection resumed in 2022 when 21 four-year-olds, six five-year-olds, and one seven-year-old registered in 2021 had to be assessed, as well as 36 new candidate stallions. This resulted in a total of 64, of which 33 were approved. This year we counted 32 registered candidate stallions (31 horses and one pony), of which three remained absent, and 15 received ‘approved’ status as breeding stallions.
Of those prented, only one stallion was represented with more than one son, namely Emerald van’t Ruytershof (Diamant de Semilly), currently number 12 in the WBFSH sire ranking. Of the three Emerald sons, one was absent and one was approved – namely, Edo de Will Z.
However, there was more Diamant blood present in Gesves with one direct son, Divertido Horseidon (out of Westfalian mare Baroness x Balou du Rouet), and one great-grandson, Diamant de Cour Horseidon (Diacontinus -Bahamamama x Blockbuster). Of these two, only Diamant de Cour Horseidon was approved.
From the popular progenitor Cornet Obolensky/ex Windows van het Costersveld (Clinton), number 14 in the WBFSH sire ranking, one son was successfully presented, namely Cubanisto Z. There were also two Cornet Obolensky grandsons, of which one was approved by the stallion selection committee, namely Balou du Cajan PS (Balou du Reventon - Chatharga x Chacco-Blue).
Clinton, ranked 33 by the WBFSH, was not only present at the SBS Selection Show through his son, Cornet Obolensky, but also via Eldorado van de Zeshoek and President, as two of his grandsons were introduced to the public and the jury. Oganito Sitte (Eldorado vd Zeshoek - Lugana Sitte x Greco Sitte) thereby joined the collection of approved stallions.
Finally, there was also influence from Nabab de Rêve and his sire Quidam de Revel, respectively ninth and 23rd in the WBFSH sire ranking. While Kashmir’s All Inclusive DK Z (Kashmir van’t Schuttersh [Nabab de Rêve] x Andiam) and Umbello de Muze (Vigo d’Arsouilles [Nabab de Rêve] x Cornet Obolensky) were both approved for breeding, Orlando du Grand Routheux (Leandro VG x Obsession B) , a paternal great-grandson of Nabab de Rêve, was declined. Okavango Sitte (Quel Homme de Hus x Greco Sitte), the paternal grandson of Quidam de Revel, was approved.
Joris De Brabander’s ‘De Muze’ studfarm, and Daniël Boudrenghien’s Horse of Belgium were the most successful breeders, each presenting two home-bred ‘approved’ stallions. Joris returned home with the approved Uelo de Muze and Umbello de Muze, Daniël with Oganito Sitte and Okavango Sitte.

I asked Daniël Maillart which stallions impressed him in a positive way? He laughingly replied, “those are probably the stallions you’ve mentioned too.” But he went on to describe his favourites, also on my list; namely, Emerald son Edo de Will Z, out of Diane de Will (Asca), bred by EURL C. Eole. “We appreciated his conformation, as well as his showjumping qualities. Edo is a modern, complete stallion who has a lot of scope and suppleness. He shows a lot of action, is intelligent over the jump, and uses his whole body during free jumping, in short, a stallion who meets today’s standards. Saturday, he free-jumped well in, Sunday even perfect. We put of lot of hope in Edo de Will Z. He was one of the stars.”
Through his dam line, Edo de Will descends from Holstein breeding family 162. His great-granddam, Arlene, produced the Libero H daughter Kerstin I and the Quidam de Revel daughter Naomi Campel, amongst others. Kerstin I is the granddam of Camillus (in 2021, eighth in the Bundeschampionat final for six year olds, and last year successful at 1m40-1m45 level)... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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