WILLIAM MICKLEM - EVEN MARK TODD CAN BE LED ASTRAY Part 3

The Horse and Hound is the most prestigious equestrian magazine in the UK, the equivalent of the Chronicle of the Horse in the USA. I was writing an article on breeding for them, including details of the Holstein stallion Cavalier Royale, the Irish based stallion that has produced so many top class event horses, including World Silver medallist and winner of Rolex Ben Along Time and Mary Kings wonderful international pair, Call Again Cavalier and Imperial Cavalier. Their breeding editor returned my copy with a number of small changes, including deleting the fact that Cavalier Royale was half thoroughbred. I reinserted this fact and it was duly returned once again, deleted!

HIDDEN GENES IN THE SPORT HORSE WORLD

So I rang their breeding editor, whom you would have thought would understand about the hidden thoroughbred genes in so many sport horses. No, she said Cavalier Royale is by the Selle Francais Cor de la Bryere out of the Holsteiner Ligustra. So I then had to point out to her that Cor de la Byrere is two thirds thoroughbred and Ligustra slightly more than one third thoroughbred, making Cavalier Royale himself just over half thoroughbred. Therefore most of his famous offspring are three quarters thoroughbred, as they have been out of thoroughbred Irish mares. So like Mark Todd the breeding editor of the Horse and Hound had been led astray about the hidden thoroughbred genes in some very famous horses.

FIVE THOROUGHBRED GODS OF THE WARM BLOOD WORLD

What is also fascinating is that the thoroughbred genes of Cavalier Royale include those four thoroughbred gods of the warm blood world, FURIOSO, COTTAGE SON, RANTZAU, & LADYKILLER. Remember these names because, together with a fifth, LUCKY BOY, there is no statistical doubt that these five thoroughbred stallions are the equal of Northern Dancer and his son Sadlers Wells in the racing world. They are more influential than any other sires of any breeding in the jumping world.and they are thoroughbreds:

FURIOSO (Born in Ireland 1944, stood in France) More than 50% horses in the top 20 show jumpers at the World Games in Aachen and the Olympics in Athens go back to the legendary TB Furioso. Furioso was by Precipitation, also sire of the famous Irish show jumping stallion Prefairy. Sire of supersire Furioso 11. who was himself sire 81 approved sons and 96 dams of approved sons, including the great jumping sires Voltaire, Le Mexico, For Pleasure (Marcus Ehning), & Purioso, sire of Anky Van Grunsens Dressage Gold medalist Cocktail.

COTTAGE SON (Born in Ireland 1944, stood in Germany) Just as many show jumpers trace back to the Irish TB Cottage Son as to Furioso. He has made a huge impact on German warmblood breeding and was from the family of British Grand National winner Sheilas Cottage and triple Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Cottage Rake. Sire of Valine the dam of supersire Ramiro Z (sire of Ratina Z), and of Viola the dam of the ubiquitous jumping sire Lord. Grandsire of Christine Stuckleburgers dressage champion Granat.

RANTZAU - (Born in France 1946, stood in France) Rantzau holds a similar position in the Selle Francais stud book with the greatest number of top rated stallion grandsons and credited with revolutionising the breeding of show jumpers. Sire of supersire Cor De La Bryere, sire of over thirty approved stallions including Calando 1 V1, Caletto 1 111, Calypso 1 V, Cavalier Royale and Cicero, Corland, & Corrado 1 11.

LADYKILLER (Born in UK 1961, stood in Germany) Ladykiller, sired 35 approved stallions and 195 approved daughters and dominates Holsteiner pedigrees, that are the most successful in show jumping, to such an extent that those without his name are becoming rare. He has become the superstar influence in all the European stud books.

LUCKY BOY (Born in Ireland, 1966, stood in Holland) Lucky Boy sired 27 approved stallion sons and is the sire of Melanie Smiths great World Cup winner Calypso. Lucky Boy is without peer as a show jumping sire in the Dutch studbook. Also sire of the Olympic horses Van Gogh (Willi Melliger), The Freak (Hugo Simon and Dirk Hafemeister), and Anne Medrano (Anne Kursinski).

The point is that the genes of these horses all contain the classic bloodlines of the best jumping thoroughbreds from the racing world, which in turn come from flat racing. In other words the huge success of these five Gods of warm blood breeding is not a total fluke nor was the success of this additional group of 70 hugely successful thoroughbred sires (with multiple advanced international sons and daughters or grandchildren from each decade of the last 50 years) that I list below. I just want to emphasize how many very important TB sires there are in the modern sport horse world and, amazingly, how they are mostly related. Most sired top performers in more than one discipline. NB This list is certainly not exhaustive but I havent finished my research:

DRESSAGE

Pik As (Germany), Praefectus (Germany), Valentino (Germany), Angelo (Germany), Anblik (Germany) Der Loewe (Germany) Bleep (Germany), Ecuador (Germany), Tremolo (France), Busoni (Germany), Manolete (Germany & Denmark), No Robbery (USA), Turner (France), Lauries Crusador (Germany), Black Sky (Germany), & Prince Thatch (Germany).

SHOW JUMPING

Khaled (USA), Abernant (USA), Swaps (USA) Ultimate (Germany) Highland Flight (Ireland), Chair Lift (Ireland), Prefairy (Ireland), Khalex (USA), Abgar (Holland), Good Twist (USA), My Babu (USA), Sayajirao (Germany), Waldenser (Germany), Hand In Glove (USA & France), Cardinal (Germany), Heraldik (Germany), Mytens (Holland), Grundy (Germany), Sacramento Song (Germany) & Julio Mariner (Germany).

EVENTING

Happy Monarch (UK), Sheshoon (UK), Crepello (UK), Heathersett (UK) Rose Argent (UK), Chou Chin Chou (Ireland), Vollkorn (Germany), Brilliant Invader (New Zealand), Cantab (Ireland), Bahrain (Ireland), Garnered (UK), Bassompierre (Ireland), Cardinal (New Zealand), Final Problem (Ireland), Pollerton (Ireland), Peacock (Ireland), Cantab (Ireland), Imperious (Ireland), Seven Bells (Ireland), Big Hat (Australia), Ben Faerie (UK), Welton Gameful (UK), Carnival Night (Ireland), Royal Renown (Ireland), Campaigner (Ireland), Rhett Butler (Ireland), Trio (France), Edmund Burke (Ireland), Miners Lamp (UK), Condrieu (Germany), Village Star (France), Mayhill (UK), & Master Imp (Ireland).

What is interesting is to also present them in date order. In the twenty years after the second world war the German and Dutch breed societies made a conscious decision to import thoroughbreds to cross with their native mares to produce showjumpers, but the big question remains . is the decline in new TB sires the result of more quality part bred sires being available (largely the sons and grandsons of the thoroughbred sires in this listin particular the sons of the five GODS of the warm blood world), or the result of the success of the marketing policies of the breed societies, or a little of both? Some would say that the right thoroughbred types are no longer available, but the conundrum is that all the disciplines are moving towards more quality horses. The success of TB sires born in the 80s would suggest that there are now new openings and open minds for the thoroughbred in all disciplines.if we could find the right ones!

1940s

FURIOSO, COTTAGE SON, RANTZAU, Anblik, Pik As, Der Loewe, Khaled, Abernant, Swaps, Ultimate, My Babu, Sayajirao, Happy Monarch.

1950s

Valentino, Bleep, Manolete, Highland Flight, Prefairy, Khalex, Abgar, Waldenser, Crepello, Sheshoon, Heathersett, Cantab.

1960s

LADYKILLER, LUCKY BOY, Praefectus, Ecuador, Busoni, Angelo, No Robbery, Turner, Black Sky, Chair Lift, Good Twist, Cardinal (Aus), Cardinal (Ger), Sacramento Song, Rose Argent, Welton Gameful, Chou Chin Chou, Vollkorn, Imperious, Big Hat, Ben Faerie, Carnival Night, Trio.

1970s

Hand In Glove, Grundy, Julio Mariner, Brilliant Invader, Seven Bells, Royal Renown, Campaigner, Rhett Butler, Edmund Burke, Miners Lamp.

1980s

Prince Thatch, Lauries Crusader, Tremolo, Mytens, Heraldik, Master Imp, Condrieu, Village Star, Mayhill.

Quite a gathering I think youll agree I wouldnt mind a couple waiting for me in our front fieldand I still have much work to do especially with Australian and New Zealand thoroughbreds. These stallions all have some common ancestors which can be a real help in evaluating the breeding of new sires.

THE RIGHT ANCESTORS 10 OF THE VERY BEST

So what are the common ancestors of the above 5 TB Gods of the warmblood world and the other 70 sires? I wont bore you with too many details and too many sires, but going a long way back there are ten names in particular that should seriously brighten your day if you find a liberal sprinkling of them on BOTH sides of the back pedigree of your horse:

1 - BAY RONALD (1893 - UK) (the sire of Dark Ronald 1905),

2 - CHAUCER(1900 UK),

3 - THE TETRARCH (1911 Ireland),

4 - TEDDY(1913 France & USA)

5 - ORANGE PEEL(1919 France),

6 - HURRY ON (1913 UK - the sire of Precipitation - 1933),

7 - PHALARIS (1913 UK - the sire of full brothers Pharos - 1920 and Fairway -1925),

8 - BLANDFORD (1919 Ireland - the sire of Blenheim - 1927),

9 - TOURBILLON (1928 France - the sire of Djebel - 1937),

10 HYPERION (1930 UK - sire of jumping sires Owen Tudor, Hornbeam, Alibhai, High Hat, Khaled & Heliopolis, among many others.)

For example my own stallion JACKAROO (2007), a full brother of Karen OConnors Mandiba, has 39 crosses from this list of thoroughbred sires, only missing out on Orange Peel.and I emphasize that my suggestion is that we benefit from the very special mental qualities handed down by these horses as well as the physical qualities. The 15 great thoroughbred sires with names in capitals above do it all, mentally and physically.they are a truly golden list ..and a high proportion of their families really jump.

THOROUGHBREDS CAN JUMP

Top Irish show jumping stallion, the Irish Draught CLOVER HILL (1973), was in fact half thoroughbred, being by Golden Beaker. Golden Beakers sire had crosses of Chaucer, Bay Ronald x 2, Pharlaris, The Tetrarch, and Blandford, while his dam had two crosses of Hurry On, making him a good choice as Clover Hills sire. I just wish Golden Beaker had been performance tested as a youngster and had his jumping ability assessed. He might have been found to be great and more use made of him because of this.

Both because so few thoroughbreds are properly performance tested, and because many riders are unaware that many top horses have a majority of thoroughbred blood, it has become common currency in show jumping breeding circles to say that the thoroughbred is not good enough for world class show jumping. Yet three of the greatest show jumpers, World Champion JET RUN (1968), Olympic Gold Medalist TOUCH OF CLASS (1973), and double Silver medalist and top rated jumper in the world GEM TWIST (1979) were all full thoroughbreds. As far as show jumping is concerned the statistics are solid with regard to the role of the thoroughbred, even in modern times.

ITS A FACT

In addition to the multiple World Cup winners, BALOUBET DE ROUET (1989) & SHUTTERFLY (1993), that I mentioned earlier, that are at least 50% thoroughbred, just look at this list of showjumping royalty and note their % of thoroughbred blood.

LORD (1967) - features in top sire pedigree after top pedigree in German warm bloods - by Ladykiller out of mare by Cottage Son with 48 approved stallion sons. He is grandsire of In Style, Ian Millars impressive medalist at the Olympics last year - 80 % Thoroughbred.

JALISCO B (1975) - holds the record for number of offspring at Olympics. Carries the genes of Orange Peel x 2, Blandford, Hurry On and Dark Ronald. Sire of supersires Quidam de Revel and Quito de Baussy at least 65% thoroughbred.

QUIDAM DE REVEL (1982) top rated sire 2003 and 2004. Carries the genes of Orange Peel x 3, Blandford x 2, Hurry On and Dark Ronald. Sire of Guidam and prolific sire of Grand Prix jumper, with 48 offspring winning International classes - at least 65% thoroughbred.

QUITO DE BAUSSY (1982) - World and Olympic champion and the leading jumping sire in 02, 2nd in 04 and leading again in 05 and French Gold Team medalist. Carries the genes of Orange Peel x 3, Blandford x 2, Hurry On and Dark Ronald - at least 56.25% thoroughbred.

JUS DE POMME (1986) - Atlanta individual Gold medalist - arguably one of the greatest ever jumpers. Carries the genes of Hurry On x 2, Orange Peel, Blandford, & Tourbillon - 69% thoroughbred.

So if you are interested in elite performance double check that the horse you want to buy or cover your mare with has enough thoroughbred blood because many dont.

NOW HERES A SURPRISE

Finally there is a statistic which casts serious doubt on the line breeding claims of many jumping stud books and the cry from the warm blood world that you cant find good thoroughbreds any longer.three of the four show jumping finalists at the Aachen World Games (2006) were out of daughters of TB stallions! Happy days for breeders of quality horses.

William

www.WilliamMicklem.com

Next week.Part 4the truth about Headley Brittannias husband and the connection between top dressage and jumping breeding.

WILLIAM MICKLEM - EVEN MARK TODD CAN BE LED ASTRAY Part 3

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