By Jenneke Smit / KWPN
Photography: Jacob Melissen
Small in stature, but great in deeds. That applies to the Carthago daughter Valerie, who has developed into a highly successful broodmare at the Nijhof family and Wim ten Pas. Mares like Valerie add extra prestige to Team Nijhof’s own breeding program.
In addition to producing the 1.55m-classified stallion Diathago, she has also delivered remarkable sons such as the 1.45m-jumping Lamaze TN and Pilothago.
Henk Nijhof Sr. once purchased the Hanoverian state premium mare Sera del Castegno (Stakkato) in Germany and bred one foal from her before selling her to esteemed Italian clients. That one foal turned out to be a direct hit with Valerie, and her half-brothers and sisters in Italy also underscore the breeding power of this family. Additionally, top showjumpers such as Karamell M&M (Kannan), with whom Takashi Haase Shibayama competed at the Paris Olympics, and Audrey Coulter’s Grand Prix winner Acorte (Acorado I) comes from Valerie’s direct damline.
Strong lineage
Valerie is a half-sister to no fewer than seven international showjumpers, including the highest-level classified Maximo del Castegno (Acodetto I) of Roberto Prandi. “Looking back, it is of course very unfortunate that the Stakkato mare only produced one foal for us, especially now that we see how incredibly well Valerie herself breeds. But we have always sold many of our mares,” says Henk Nijhof Jr.
“Only in the last 10 to 12 years have we focused more on our own breeding, and thanks in part to Valerie, we are really reaping the benefits. We love buying foals and later having success with them, but it is extra special when they come from our own breeding. Valerie’s dam was a beautiful mare of average height. That’s why we chose the powerful sire Carthago for her, and the following year, pregnant with Concorde, we sold her. That Concorde son jumped at 1m45 level in Italy, so the start was immediately promising, and later, Sera del Castegno produced six more international horses there. Like her mother, Valerie is certainly not tall – she barely reaches 1m60 – but the majority of her offspring are of good to excellent size.”
The Nijhof family has co-owned Valerie with Wim ten Pas since she was young, and they are jointly listed as breeders of her offspring. “We have a great collaboration with Wim, and Valerie spent most of her life with him. Only in recent years have we done more embryo transfer, so now she stays with us in the summers. As a young horse, she underwent colic surgery, so we no longer want her to carry foals herself.”
First approved son
Valerie was immediately used for breeding. “At that time, it was less common to put mares in sport, and due to her colic surgery, that was not an option anyway. We first bred her to Sandro Boy, resulting in the mare Balade. From her, we bred multiple international 1m30/1m3 horses, but she didn’t pass on her qualities as strongly as her mother.” The following year, she produced the Calvaro Z daughter Crocodile Dundee. She was sold as a promising showjumper to the Czech Republic and was later successful at international 1m45 level with Jan Studnicka and Barbora...
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