Analysis by Adriana van Tilburg: My first memory of the now 13-year-old KWPN gelding VDL Groep Zidane (Heartbreaker - Icalanda x Calando I, stamm 776, bred by Frank Kok) was reading his pedigree on the door of his box and I scratched my head thinking what kind of dynamite had the breeder wanted to produce? He was six years old back then. Don’t misunderstand me – his pedigree is performance pure.
With the KWPN stallion Heartbreaker (Nimmerdor - Bacarole x Silvano, bred by P.S. Koopmans) who produced – and is still producing – many international 1m60 jumping horses like Echo van’t Spieveld, Romanov and Topinambour but his offspring are also known for not being easy...
The same can be said for the Holsteiner stallion Calando I (Cor de la Bryère - Furgrund x Colombo, stamm 7673, bred by Hermann Otto Voss), who produced 1m60 horses like Evli Cagliostro, Conejo and Calado. Coincidentally, Heartbreaker and Calando I were themelves both active at 1m60 level.
Stamm 776
One of the oldest and widest spread Holsteiner dam lines is stamm 776. This line is also known as the ‘Bahlmann Stamm’ as the mare line has been for more than 100 years with the Bahlmannm family. From this line also comes Ramiro (Raimond - Valine x Cottage Son xx, bred by Paul Bahlmann), a stallion who has greatly influenced all the European studbooks; Acorado (Acord II - Doreen XIII x Corrado I, bred by Uwe Bahlmann), who died too early, and Livello (Limbus - Zocka x Ahorn Z, bred by Michael Tolle) who placed fourth individually with Cameron Hanley during the Windsor 2009 Euro- pean Championships...
