CORNET Obolensky has earned an enviable reputation as a world-class sire and sire of sires. With the performance genes of Clinton and Heartbreaker, not only did he himself earn a place among showjumping’s elite, but he has a proven record of passing his talent on to his offspring. And Cobra 18 is one such talented offspring.

A 2003 172cms bay Westphalian stallion, Cobra 18 was bred at the world famous Ligges Stud, which is located in the heart of the horse region Münsterlandin, Germany, and was founded by German Olympic gold medallist Fritz Ligges. In addition to the magic mix of Cornet Obolensky and Ramiro Z (his damsire), Cobra 18 is genetically superb, benefitting from the essential thoroughbred blood of Usurpator xx to make him 49% thoroughbred - a winning combination in modern day sport horses.

Cobra 18 was brought to Ireland from Europe in 2015 by a private investment partnership and earlier this year was purchased by Tony Noble, a successful businessman with a deep passion for show jumping and sport horse breeding.

Several successful horses have been bred by or produced by Noble over the years, including Slightly Bonkers - a Nicky Lord (Lord Z) mare bought by Noble as a two-year-old, with a name that belied her success. With the legendary King of Diamonds featuring strongly on her damside, she started her career with John Floody before the ride was passed to Conor Drain, where she continued her career up to international Grand Prix.

More recently, Noble bred and produced Lord Archie (Lord Z x Star Cruise x Clover Hill) – a talented grey ridden by Feaha Moore in HSI studbook classes before being sold last year.

Noble also has a young home-bred three-year-old stallion based in Holland who is going through the stallion approval process and looks to be an exciting prospect for the future. By Crunch (Clarimo x Canturo), his dam is by Guidam with her damline related to the damline of Olympic gold medal-winning stallion Big Star.

Noble comments: “The first thing that caught my attention about Cobra 18 was his breeding, which is exceptional. For this I have to commend the Ligges family for their foresight and planning in matching his superb damline of Ramiro Z x Usurpator xx to Cornet Obolensky, who was then just three years old. Secondly, I was impressed by his performance. Cobra 18 had a successful showjumping career, jumping to 1.50m level until a career ending injury in 2014 forced his retirement to stud. However, as I have said from the first day I met him, what was the sports’ loss is the breeders gain! And thirdly, I fell in love with Cobra 18 himself. He is an incredibly handsome horse, has a superb temperament and is a complete gentleman to work with.”

PROVEN SIRE

Not only does Cobra 18 have the competition performance and genetics to make him a top-class stallion, he is also already a proven sire. From the small number of mares that he covered as a four-year-old before embarking on his competitive career, currently his most notable offspring is the 10-year-old Dublin (Cobra 18 X Calido), who is proving to be a serious talent. Having made his 1.60m debut last year with Carly Anthony of Team Eric Lamaze, Dublin is now under the new ownership of Team USA’s and current World No. 2 Kent Farrington.

Having gone through the 30-day stallion testing in Germany and being licenced with the ZfdP studbook, approved by the AES and registered with HSI (making his progeny Green passport eligible), it is clear that Cobra 18 is a fantastically bred horse with all the ingredients required to produce modern day performance horses and showjumpers of the highest level.

Cobra 18 has proven excellent fertility, with fresh semen available from Drumhowan Stud, Co Monaghan, and frozen semen available at several stations throughout the UK and Europe. For more information, see www.cobra18.com. To discuss terms, conditions and multiple mare discounts, contact Drumhowan Stud on 087 243 8959, or Tony on 0044 7767 781001 or email info@cobra18.com.