WHAT changes were there since last year’s World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) sire rankings? Chacco-Blue denied a Diamant de Semilly treble in the show jumping rankings as the other two stalwarts, Contendro and De Niro, pulled off a hat-trick by retaining their respective eventing and dressage crowns.

Some 50% of the top-10 eventing sires were again Irish-based, a highly-respectable result which keeps Irish Sport Horse breeding visible on both the WBFSH and world stages, while the European powerhouse studbooks maintained their grip in the show jumping and dressage sire tables.

2017 was also the year when several leading stallions, featured in these rankings, were retired from competition or lost. Major championships always have a major impact on the annual rankings and last summer’s European championships proved no exception.

Are these rankings infallible? No, as once again there are some anomalies in the rankings, particularly in the eventing sires category and the ‘one-hit wonder’ sires will typically flounder against the stallions busy in the covering shed. ‘Numbers game’ caveat aside, the rankings are still a useful tool for breeders going into the 2018 breeding season.

Once again the eventing sire table salvages Irish pride, with five of the top-10 stallions – Master Imp (third), Ramiro B (fourth), Puissance (fifth), Lux Z (seventh) and Cruising (eighth) – bred or based here.

High Kingdom’s main result last year – third place in the final running of the Kentucky Horse Trials under the Rolex banner – sees the remarkable 17-year-old head Master Imp’s progeny.

As several of the Irish-bred ‘millenials’ that competed at the London Olympics – Mr Medicott, Electric Cruise, Ringwood Magister (another Master Imp son) and Portersize Just A Jiff – start to wind down their careers or have retired - these rankings are possibly the last time we will see these traditional-bred Olympians feature in such numbers.

Just six points behind High Kingdom in the individual event horse rankings is the American-based Da Vinci Code, one that looks set to feature well from the later foal crops of Master Imp, who died in 2009, in future rankings.

Proud breeder of High Kingdom William Micklem with Zara Tindall and Suzi Cooper at Rolex Kentucky (Photo: Susan Finnerty)

Master Imp has 33 progeny credited to him, a number which will fuel his posthumous duel with Heraldik, the only other thoroughbred to feature in this year’s rankings. This pair are increasingly appearing as dam sires amongst the individual horse results too.

BIG LEAP

The next-highest stallion, Ramiro B, had 17 offspring listed with no less than 11 of these carrying Richard Sheane’s Cooley brand. This group included the sire’s best-ranked Cooley SRS, selected with Oliver Townend for the British team at the European championships. Although now based cross-channel with Nina Barbour, all of Ramiro B’s WBFSH-listed progeny in the 2017 sire rankings are Irish-bred so the Belgian-bred sire can continue to be claimed.

The traditionally-bred Puissance (15 progeny) enjoyed the greatest leap in last year’s rankings, leapfrogging from 66th place right up to fifth. Ardragh Highlight, the only traditional-bred amongst last year’s Irish Sport Horse team that won its record 22nd studbook title, was the chief points earner for this Imperius son.

Surprisingly, Lux Z is Kedrah House Stud’s highest-placed sire in these rankings with Courage II seemingly back in 11th place. The American-based pair of Delux Z and Fernhill Fugitive are the Hanoverian sire’s top points scorers from his 14 offspring.

Also returning to the top-10 fold is the second traditional Irish-bred, Cruising. From the 11 progeny credited to him, Harbour Pilot and the veteran Mr Medicott, who made his final four-star appearance at Kentucky last spring, are his leading lights.

Now to the glitches: it remains unclear if Courage II’s doppelgänger ‘Courage’, listed in 59th place, could be the same Holsteiner stallion and if so, their combined total (671 points) would hypothetically place him fourth, instead of 11th. In either instance, the best offspring of the late stallion, who was out of Cavalier Royale’s full-sister Vamara, are the Rio Olympics pair of The Duke Of Cavan and Ringwood Sky Boy.

Two other surprise omissions from the progeny of Limmerick (14th) and Touchdown (18th) appear to be Loughan Glen and Paulank Brockagh. Although her points picked up at Pau last autumn, after the WBFSH rankings calendar year ended, will now count towards her and sire Touchdown’s 2018 tally, Paulank Brockagh’s other results last season do not seem to have converted into WBFSH points in 2017.

Chipmunk FRH and the 2015 European championships gold medal winner Fischer Takinou are the leading lights for the top two eventing stallions Contendro and Jaguar Mail. The reigning individual gold and silver medal German-bred winners Horseware Hale Bob (OLD) and FischerRocana (DSP) are the sole runners recorded for their thoroughbred sires Helikon (33rd) and Ituango (21st).