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Lanaken's lessons: population strongly dominated by handful of top sires

Sep 26, 2023

The World Young Horse Championships in Lanaken were top-class sport again. But what are the breeding lessons? What can we deduce from the participation of almost 600 5-, 6- and 7-year-old show jumpers active at the World Championships? Several stallions had more than 5 offspring in Lanaken. Which new breeding stallions stand out or, on the other hand, remain under most people's radar?

In answering these questions, it is important to look at the opportunities stallions have had in breeding, especially in the years when the Lanaken 2023 participants were sired. If we then take a look at the stallions that gave more than 1,200 foals in these years, we quickly end up with Kannan (15), Cornet Obolensky (33) and Diamant de Semilly (21) which is of course no surprise. They had 6, 8 and 2 offspring respectively in the final. With Dominator 2000 Z (18) and Cicero Z van Paemel (17) we have 2 more stallions who were very present, but from just under 1,000 offspring. This is then somewhere logical due to the many coverings they performed.

More than 500 offspring

Aganix du Seigneur, Casall, Chacoon Blue , Emerald and Comme il Faut all had some offspring in the final. This group of stallions with more than 500 offspring also included For Pleasure, Tangelo vd Zuuthoeve, Untouchable and Vigo d'Arsouilles with several participants but no finalists.

More than 250

A large group of stallions had more than 250 offspring. Bamako de Muze (10) , Stakkato Gold (11), Nixon van 't Meulenhof (8), Zirocco Blue (8) and Harley VDL (8) were the strongest in this group. However, none of the latter was able to qualify for the final on Sunday. With 7 offspring we find Asca Z and Casallco. Furthermore there are also Eldorado vd Zeshoek (6), his son Grandorado (5), Vagabond de la Pomme (5) and Comilfo Plus Z (5).

Luidam: 3 out of 3

It was also notable that both Mosito van 't Hellehof and Luidam both had 3 offspring in the final out of just under 100 coverings. For Luidam, this meant that all offspring could qualify. Mosito (9) had a lot more offspring in the qualifications. Remarkably, like Million Dollar, it was Mosito's first offspring to qualify. Two of Million Dollar's three offspring qualified for the final.

Remarkable

Kassander van 't Roosakker (6), Taran de la Pomme (4) and Denzel van 't Meulenhof (4) also had a large share out of slightly more than 50 offspring, but only one of Denzel's offspring qualified for the final. Putting this in proportion to the many covering stallions, this is all the more remarkable.

Less surprising names are of course Conthargos (5), Baloubet (5) and Messenger (5) who bred more than 100 offspring. Perhaps slightly less expected is also Aktion Pur Z (6) in this list.

Sons equal fathers

Some stallions clearly cover less than their sire but could take over their sire's place in the future. Here, Emerald seems most likely to match or even overtake his sire Diamant. Grandorado, in turn, could place himself on a par with his sire Eldorado van de Zeshoek. Vagabond de la Pomme (Vigo) , Casallco (Casall) Comilfo Plus Z (Comme il Faut) then again have a way to go.

Limited number of coverings

Although we should also see this all a bit more broadly, of course. Since most stallions have less than 25 foals a year. There are too many to mention, but looking at the final rounds, we do see some stallions who do have a contender despite their limited number of coverings.

Akarad Hero (21) , Falaise de Muze (10), Jensen van 't Meulenhof (20) and Presley Boy (26) all had one in the final as well. This obviously stands out less among the many offspring of other stallions but is certainly just as good in terms of inheritance.

Sporting mothers

If we focus on the dams of all horses that qualified for the World Championships in Lanaken, we see that one in five have themselves jumped internationally at 1.40m or more. Breeding with a mare who has competed at sport level helps, but is not necessary to get a good sport horse. On the other hand, a good dam line is very important. One in three mothers of participating horses has a brother or sister who has competed at 1.60m level.

Inbreeding

Another thing to definitely take into account is that certain stallions are really quite common among the competitors. Diamant de Semilly, Quidam de Revel, Clinton, Heartbreaker, Carthago and Contender are the most notable stallions here. This is something we might have to pay attention to in the future anyway, as more than half have 2 or more of the aforementioned stallions in their pedigree.