By Judy Wardrope
The Rolex
Kentucky 2015 Event Horses
BloodlineAnalysis
A TOTAL OF 40 HORSES COMPLETED ALL THREE PHASES OF THE ROLEX KENTUCKY THREE- DAY EVENT AT THE KENTUCKY HORSE PARK THIS PAST SPRING. THE 36 WITH VERIFIABLE PEDIGREES CREATES A VERY INTERESTING SNAPSHOT OF SUCCESSFUL EVENTING BLOODLINES.
WARMBLOOD VERSUS THOROUGHBRED The discussion about the ideal Warmblood/ Thoroughbred breeding equation for event horses has gone on for years, so let’s see what the 2015 results show. Most of the pedigrees of the Rolex competitors were available, however- where the full lineage was not found, horses have been categorized by the known portion of their pedigree. Of the 40 finishers at Rolex, 15 were verifi-
ably purebred Thoroughbred, three were three- quarter Thoroughbred, one was five-eighths Thoroughbred and five were half Thorough- bred. That means that a total of 24 of the finish- ers were at least half Thoroughbred. Addition- ally, two were at least three-eighths, four were at least one-quarter and four were at least one- eighth. Only two were less than one-eighth Thoroughbred within four generations, while four were of unknown heritage. Of the top ten placing horses, none were
full Thoroughbred. Each one contained some amount of Warmblood or Irish Draught in their pedigrees. It is clear that the Thoroughbred is still impor-
tant in eventing, but what is the mix that creates the most successful horses? In addition, it has been argued that racing
ability in sires (and dams) has little to do with sport ability. Since we have a nice sampling to examine, let’s look deeper into the Rolex competitors’ bloodlines to see if that holds true. We can look at the Thoroughbred ancestry as it relates to racing and sport, plus we can look at the non-Thoroughbred ancestry as it relates to sport.
The Individual Horses
FischerRocana FST (1st) – She has a Thoroughbred sire who was a stakes winner on the track, and his sire was the champion older race- horse in Germany. Her Warmblood dam descends from the jumping lines of Calypso II and Sandro. Wesko (2nd) – His KWPN sire was a jumper from the Darco line, a
strong jumping influence. His dam is by Mytens xx, a winning son of racing champion Spectacular Bid, and traces to Voltaire, a jumper with influence in jumping and dressage at the recent World Cup Finals. La Biostethique Sam FBW (3rd) – His sire, Stan The Man, was a
winning racehorse in England as well as the sire of the eventers Shear H2O and Shear l’Eau. Heraldik, his dam’s sire, was a strong influence for jumping and eventing, but his race record is unknown. Sam’s dam is registered as a Baden-Württemberg, but her dam was a Hanoverian. Bay My Hero (4th) – His sire, Cult Hero, was not a success at the
track, but he descends from such notables as Deputy Minister, What A Pleasure, Mr. Prospector and Round Table. Bay My Hero’s dam combines the Irish Draught influences of Sea Crest and King of Diamonds, both known for their descendants in jumping and eventing. Fernhill Cubalawn (5th) – His Holsteiner sire died fairly young, but
he carried the blood of the jumpers Contender and Capitol I. His Thor- oughbred dam was by the stakes-placed hurdler Arkan. OBOS O’Reilly (6th) – His sire, OBOS Quality, was a jumper and by the jumper Quick Star (Galoubet A/Nithard), and his dam was by Clover Hill (Irish Draught, but half Thoroughbred and an influence for jumping and eventing) and out of a daughter of Safari (Thoroughbred brood- mare sire of the jumper Flexible). Master Frisky (7th) – His Thoroughbred sire Master Imp is well
known as an influence in eventing, and, although his race record was not found, he hails from classic race stock. Master Frisky’s dam is a descendant of Clover Hill (see above) and Henbit (the champion three- year-old colt in England and a leading National Hunt sire at one time). Annie Clover (8th) – Her Warmblood sire is of jumping heritage:
Potsdam, Polydor, Landadel, etc. Her dam is by Clover Hill (see previous mentions) and out of a daughter of Glacier Mint (a Thoroughbred used in the Irish Sport Horse breeding of eventers and jumpers).
Warmbloods Today 67
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