The Thoroughbred Influence on the Competition Horse
The Thoroughbred Influence on the Competition Horse By Jane Kidd
article from the book "The Leading Competition Sires of Great Britain and Ireland 1996-1997
Published by Otterswick Marketing.
All over the world, Britain is envied for her large and high class stock of Thoroughbreds, but in sport horse breeding we have made much less use of our abundant supply than the continentals have of their more limited numbers.
The tendency has been to use the Thoroughbred as a breed and any reasonable representative would do to upgrade half bred stock, inject some class and stamina, and with luck produce a good hunter, eventer or show horse.
How much more likely we would be to produce a good horse if Thoroughbreds could be used selectively and on the basis of data about their own ability to jump, move well and be trainable, to produce athletic stock, and bloodlines.
Fortunately all these sources of data are being developed; Thoroughbred mares and stallions are being tested in arenas, British Horse Database is starting to provide more reliable information about progeny and publications like this one, are drawing attention to bloodlines.
All of this gives hope that Britain could make much better use of an exceptionally valuable equestrian asset - the Thoroughbred.
The Thoroughbred Stallion in Competitions
The spirited sensitive temperament of the Thoroughbred stallion has made it much more difficult to handle both from the ground and when riding, and in the past few have been used for competitions. Better horsemanship, and the greatly enhanced value of a stallion that has proved itself in the arena, is changing this and leading to many more competing.
Forerunners of this trend in the 1960’s were Sam Barr who’s Welton Gameful was a successful eventer before founding the Welton Stud dynasty, and Jennie Loriston-Clarke’s Xenocles who was both an Advanced Dressage horse and Advanced eventer.
Both these stallions are found in the pedigrees of today’s sport horses but Welton Gameful can boast of more and this success is not surprising when one looks at his pedigree which contains sport horse producers of the likes of Pharos and Big Game. This good blood too has been continued into the next generations with three of his sons standing at stud - Welton Apollo, Welton Crackerjack and Welton Louis.
The French, who have led the trend to prove sport horse stallions in the arena, were the first to produce a major Thoroughbred showjumper and this was Laudanum by Mourne (sire of Greyhound and Garde Coeur). This 15.3hh chestnut won Grand Prix and Puissance with Piere Durand and became a leading sire with the very high fee of 25,000 FF (around £3,000).
Thoroughbred stallions who have competed internationally in showjumping over recent years include Ard Allez Cat (sire of the Young Irelander from his first crop), Urgele by Rapace, Mity Wind who has two full brothers jumping in Germany . . . and Hand and Glove by Best Turn ex Miss Betty by Buckpasser who also competed in Prix St Georges dressage.
The only Thoroughbred stallion I know of competing in international dressage is Mago by Diligo by Petingo by Fair Trial with Hornbeam as damsire, and he represents Denmark in Grand Prix.
More of the current generation are setting out to prove themselves, with Rock King (by Just a Monarch), Roviris (by Sir Ivor), Devils Jump (by Abergwiffy) having been successful in the young horse classes. May Hill and Cabalva April Food have upgraded in eventing.
Successful Sport Horse Bloodlines
May Hill is a New Zealand Thoroughbred and his sire Auk has three good sons to his name and is talked about as a good line to follow, but in Britain all too few Thoroughbred bloodlines have been identified and promoted.
Amongst the thousands of stallions standing in Britain not one Thoroughbred has more than two sons at stud that produce sport horses. This is partly because most Thoroughbreds geared toward sport horse activities are gelded, and partly if a good Thoroughbred sport horse stallion is identified like Garnered, Master Spiritus, Precipice Wood, Just a Monarch, it takes so long that he is usually dead or too old to produce a stallion son.
One line that appears often in sport horse sires is Bahram, sire of both Big Game, which is so strong in the Welton Horses, and also Persian Gulf, sire of Papayer, sire of Paradox I and II who have been so important in the Westphalian breed, and of Tamerlane sire of Marlon who has been such an influence for the Holsteins, and Shogun, important for the Hannoverians. Marlon’s sons include Kommandeur, sire of Britain’s stars Virtu and Cupido.
The additional interest in Persian Gulf is that he was out of the same dam as Precipitation, sire of the most influential sport horse Thoroughbred stallion Furioso.
Furioso by Precipitation, was a French Thoroughbred whose sons include Furioso II, Mexico, Brilloso, and amongst the competitors he was responsible for 10 Olympic showjumpers. Four further French Thoroughbreds are very important both as foundation sires for the Selle Francais and for their influence on German and Dutch breeding. These are Rantzau by Foxlight, Orange Peel by Jus d’Orange, Fra Diavolo by Black Devil and Ultimate by Umidwar.
In Germany important Thoroughbreds include Der Lowe by Wahnfried, Angelo by Oliveri, Marcio by Aventin, Abendfrieden and Anblink who were by Ferro, Ladykiller by Sailing Light, Cottage Son by Young Lover, and Manolette by Asterios.
In the Netherlands some of the most important Thoroughbreds in the development of the Dutch Warmblood were Courville by Fair Trial, Abgar by Abernant, Uppercut by Fighting Don and most famous of all Lucky Boy by Compromise.
Compromise was a son of Fair Trial a son of Fairway, and Fairway together with his full brother Pharos (sire of Nearco) are the stallions found in masses of sport horse stallion pedigrees. Admittedly they are getting rather far back as they were at stud in the inter world war years, but pretty close relations include Welton Gameful, Evening Trial, Another Hoarwithy, Goldhill, Mago, Master Spiritus, and Just a Monarch. In Germany Fairway is in the pedigree of Ladykiller, Marlon and Papayer. In Holland Lucky Boys’ great grandfather was Pharos and Courville’s grandfather Fairway.
Another Thoroughbred to appear in quite a few pedigrees of athletic good moving Thoroughbreds is the American horse Buckpasser by Tom Fool. He is the grandsire of two promising stallions in Britain - State Diplomacy and Queen’s Soldier and is damsire to Hand and Glove.
Racecourse Performance
In the absence of data about Thoroughbreds’ ability to move and jump, breeders have used racecourse performance, and in Germany and Holland for example, Thoroughbreds are only approved for Warmblood breeding if they have high time-form ratings. There is no doubt that the number of races run and wins achieved give a useful indication of toughness, courage, and soundness, but these are of limited value in the selective breeding of sport horses. The great sire of modern times, Furioso, never won a race and Stunner Rascal who impressed with an enormous jump at his stallion grading, did not have a high enough time-form rating to remain on the continent. If Thoroughbreds are to be used for sport horse breeding, they are best tested in the fields for which they are producing.
Progeny
The most valuable test for any stallion is its progeny, and is the one that has brought attention to Thoroughbreds in Britain in the past, like Just a Monarch, Abergwffy, Garnered, Master Spiritus, but they only became popular at the end of their careers. Today, thanks to the British Horse Database, it should be sooner, and BHD has already highlighted the potential of younger stallions like Primitive Rising (winner of the Young Horse Award), State Diplomacy (youngest sire of Eventers amongst their leading sires).
On the continent it is notable that a relatively small number of Thoroughbreds dominate the pedigrees of their highly successful sport horses. They have identified the lines that produce sport horses as opposed to racehorses. As the home of the Thoroughbred, Britain has a wonderful natural asset, and it seems to me that more discerning use of it is by far the most obvious way to re-establish ourselves as world leaders in the breeding of sport horses.
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14/Dec/2016
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