Last week, we discussed whether sport mares breed better offspring than broodmares who have never competed in the sport. We ended this discussion with the observation that breeding from an accomplished motherline, regardless of whether the mother herself competed in the sport, seems to produce successful sport horses. Today, we shall discuss the top 20 horses in the (updated) Hippomundo ranking and discover how many 1.45+ horses come from the same damline.
From the start, it is very clear to see that almost all of the top 20 highest earning horses in our sport right now are directly or indirectly related to multiple 1.45m+ jumpers. Only two out of 20 horses are the only 1.45m+ jumper in their damline: Pacino Amiro and Vivaldi des Meneaux, respectively seventh and tenth in the ranking.
Exactly five out of the top 20 best horses of the moment come from a dam that has directly produced more than one 1.45m+ competitor, of which three also come from a mother that competed at 1.60m as well.
Second highest earner of 2021 so far, Explosion W, is one out of four horses in this top 20 to come from a mare that was active in the sport herself. His dam Untouchable, by Baloubet du Rouet, did not only compete at 1.60m level, she also produced one of the greatest horses of our time with Explosion W (by Chacco-Blue), as well as the 1.45m-jumper Boncetto W (by Concetto Famos). One of Untouchable's products also produced a 1.55m horse in Evenzo, by Diarado.
Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z, by Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve out of the 1.60m-mare Whoopie C by Mr Blue, has two half-siblings compete at a high level in our sport. The combination of Whoopie C with Toulon brought the BWP-mare HH Donatella, who under the saddle of then Spanish rider Paola Amilibia came fifth in the five-star Grand Prix of Spruce Meadows, Calgary in 2013. Beijing Z by Bamako de Muze has numerous top eight placings in Grand Prix at a height of 1.45m-1.50m under the saddle of Belgian riders Christof Deraedt and Cederick Deknudt. Whoopie C's mother Rapsodie C, by Feinschnitt I van de Richter, gave not one, but two 1.60m jumpers. Aside from Whoopie C, Aga-Khan-C by Kannan was also active at 1.60m-level under Belgian rider Ignace Philips de Vuyst.
A mare with a damline so impressive that it would take multiple pages to elaborate on, is Killer Queen VDM. Not only did her first, second and third dam all compete at 1.60m-level, the amount of top-level horses that are directly and indirectly related to this line is extraordinary. Killer Queen's dam, Derly Chin de Muze produced a total of four Black Type horses, out of which three are already active at 1.60m. Derly's dam, Werly Chin de Muze produced six Black Type horses, of which four are 1.60m+ horses, while Werly's dam, Qerly Chin produced seven Black Type horses with five competing at 1.60m. The list of Black Type horses, and even 1.60m horses, indirectly related to Killer Queen VDM includes some of our industry's top performers such as Vagabond de la Pomme, Querlybet Hero, Inshallah de Muze, Sea Coast Ferly, and many, many others.
The Belgian-bred gelding, Delux van T&L is a son of Toulon out of Landetto-mare Ulricke van 't Paradys. Ulricke has so far produced two 1.45m+ horses, including Delux van T&L and his full sister Ignis van 't Lindenhof, active at 1.50m. However, several of her products are too young to be competing at 1.45m or higher, but are showing great promise in their respective age categories in national and international young horse classes. Additionally, Delux' granddam, Nikita van 't Spieveld by Lys de Darmen, produced four Black Type horses, of which half of them have reached the 1.60m mark. The list of 1.60m competitors in Delux van T&L's pedigree is long, proving that this line can produce high-level showjumpers without the mothers themselves competing in the sport.
Checker 47, by Comme Il Faut, comes from Come On-mare, Pamina. So far, Pamina has only given four foals, of which three compete at 1.55m+ level and the other is just a yearling. Her first product, Cedric III, by Catoki, competed up to 1.55m under Swiss rider Anthony Bourquard, while the Con Spirit-daughter Pepita Con Spita is successful at 1.60m level under US rider Hunter Holloway.
We can see that, in the case of these twenty horses, it is not enough to only look at the performances or products of the first dam. 90% of these horses come from a line that has already produced successful 1.45m+ jumpers, which seems to be a great indicator of future success. However, we must be aware to not overexploit certain damlines to limit the percentage of inbreeding and increase diversity in our breeding industry.
Hippomundo contains a wealth of important and useful information based on facts. You too can access our entire database for your own personal research for just €70 per year.
Hippomundo bases their data on the results they have access to (all international results since 01/10/2014 and a range of national results since 2019). It is possible that certain mares that may have competed nationally before 2019 will not be registered as "sport mare" on our website yet. Without information from the period before this date, some of the analyses made could be inaccurate. Please contact us with any additional questions.
