The young Contender (Calypso II x Ramiro).
Contender stood three years in Oldenburg, during which in 1987 as a four-year-old he won his 100 day per- formance test in Adelheidsdorf. Interestingly, this would also be the last time that Contender was under saddle. He was one of the few important German stal- lions from his generation that
didn’t compete in sport. By contrast, Corrado I, Caretino and Cassini I all competed regularly. During his three years at stud in Oldenburg, Contender
produced an impressive number of foals who went on to in- ternational careers. They include Niko (out a Furioso II mare ridden by Geoff Billington), Copa d’Oro (out of a Prince Gay- lord mare ridden Yves Houtackers) and Maria Callas (out of a Furioso II mare ridden by Ben Schröder), as well as Herbert Blöcker’s eventer, Chicoletto (out of a Barsoi xx mare).
STATION TO STATION Contender came back to Holstein after Hans-Jürgen Köhncke (the breeder of Chin Chin) went to Oldenburg to see what Contender was producing. He was soon con- vinced that Contender had to return to his native region! Upon his return to Holstein, Contender was stationed at
Gunnar Mohr presents Contender (age 22) in 2006 at the 100 year anniversary of the Haselau Stallion Station.
Hans-Jürgen’s association station in Badendorf from 1990 to 1993. Offspring from this period include Collin (out of a Landgraf I mare), who won the prestigious Hamburg Derby three times (in 2004, 2005 and 2006) with Toni Hassman as rider. Checkmate was also produced by Contender in these early days. This now 19-year-old gelding is still competing with Meredith Mi- chaels Beerbaum at the highest level of jumping sport. This winter, they are competing at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Welling- ton, Florida. From 2001 on,
Contender stood at stud in Haselau, an association
station of the Verband that was founded in 1906. Several of Holstein’s leading stallions such as Carthago, Farnese, Landgraf I and Ladykiller xx also spent time breeding in Haselau.
44 March/April 2014
NEXT GENERATION RISES One of Germany’s current rising stars is the stallion Colore, sired by Contender. Colore’s rider, Hans Dieter Dreher, says, “Colore is for me a very good horse. He is intelligent, he has tremendous scope and he has an unbeliev- able willingness to perform. At Spruce Meadows in Calgary, we had our best highlight so far. Colore and I were the crucial factor to win the Nations Cup for Germany. He was really fighting for me in there. One of my best youngsters at the moment is Quiwi Dream by Quidam de Revel; he de- scends from a Contender mother.” Montender, another of Contender’s offspring, won the Spanish Sunshine Tour Grand Prix in the 2004 outdoor season, as well as the La Baule, France and Aachen Nation’s Cups, all with rider Marco Kütscher. They also won the individual bronze medal, as well as the team bronze, at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Montender was recently sold to Haras du Bois Mar- got in France. One of Contender’s most important son’s is Contendro I
Colore, G.P. stallion ridden by Hans Dieter Dreher at the Global Champions Tour in Chantilly, France.
(out of a Reichsgraf mare), also standing in France for the last few months and owned by Groupe France Elevage. Conten- dro I won the 100 day test at Adelheidsdorf, just as his sire did. “It’s a long love story between our group of breeders and
Contender,” says Arnaud Evain, who purchased him for the Groupe France Elevage. “Almost 22 years ago we traded with the Holsteiner Verband some frozen semen of I Love You for some of Contender. Unfortunately at that time the frozen se- men of Contender was not good enough to produce foals in France. The reason we like Contender is that he passes to his progeny not only conformation and jumping ability but also some strong characteristics that make his progeny much bet- ter in the sport than the average!” “That’s why we bought Mr. Blue, Calvaro, Corofino, Kan- nan and most recently Contendro I,” he continues. “They all pass on strong mental ability to perform! Contendro I is tenth in the WBFSH (an international federation of studbooks) rankings for show jumping, sixteenth for eventing and he produces Grand Prix dressage horses as well. Like Kannan, he produces many champions in smaller international and amateur levels in the three Olympic disciplines. That makes him not only interesting for producing sport horses but also for broodmares and stallions. In the breeding industry of to- day, we do not believe that we will improve the performance
Tiffany van Halle
Courtesy Haselauer Landhaus
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