The past couple of weeks we have spent a lot of time highlighting the breeding successes of jumping stallions. Today we would like to change things up as we devote some attention to the stallions whose offspring have been performing well in the dressage ring since the start of the year.
The dressage stallion whose offspring have collected the highest prize money sum so far in 2021 is the Oldenburger Sandro Hit, bred by Reinhold Harder. During the first five months of the year, a total of 30 Sandro Hit-offspring represented their father in the international dressage arena, where they won a total amount of almost €51,000. The 15-year-old gelding Sebastien, out of a mother by Fidermark NRW, is one of his most successful descendants. With Canadian rider Lindsay Kellock in the saddle, Sebastien came second in the Grand Prix Freestyle during the CDI4* of Wellington in January with a score of 74.525%, amongst many other top three placings this year. Sir Donnerhall II OLD is also a son of Sandro Hit. The approved stallion secured three top six placings during the CDI5* of Doha in February with French rider Morgan Barbançon on board.
The Westphalian stallion Spielberg, by Sunny Boy, currently stands in a close second place to Sandro Hit. Just 11 descendants of Spielberg, a breeding product of Matthias Böckermann, competed internationally so far this year. However, they did manage to win a combined amount of almost €50,000 in prize money. His most successful descendant so far is the KWPN gelding Suppenkasper, who USA's Steffen Peters rode to victory in the Grand Prix Freestyle during the CDI5* in Wellington in February, with a score of 81.395%. Illuster van de Mapert has also shown some great performances so far this year with Benjamin Ebeling in the saddle.
Completing the podium is the KWPN-stallion Son de Niro. The son of De Niro out of a mother by Balzflug was bred by H. van Hattem & A.J. Pleyter. A total of two of Son de Niro's offspring competed internationally so far this year, of which only one won prize money. Zaire-E out of a mother by Broere Jazz, won a total of over €37,000 in just five months' time. In the saddle of German rider Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, the KWPN-mare won both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle during the CDI5* of Doha in February.
Other dressage stallions whose offspring have been performing well so far this year are IPS United, Falsterbo, Easy Game, Glock's Johnson TN, Dressage Royal, Blue Hors Don Schufro and Sir Donnerhall I.
