Susan Finnerty examines the pedigrees behind the winning horses at the recent World Equestrian Games

JUDGING by the level of investment in international show jumping, particularly by emerging Middle Eastern, Asian and South American countries, what was once a sport has now become an industry.

Sport horse breeding on the continent has similarly changed from being a hobby to a business. This was apparent at the recent Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, where the standout features were dominant performance bloodlines, particularly French foundation sires and the ongoing influence of the thoroughbred in event horse breeding.

The impact of the Games on the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) rankings was also evident when the penultimate rankings for the WBFSH calendar year were released last week. They saw the Selle Français studbook overtake the Irish Sport Horse studbook in the eventing standings and the main show jumping studbooks consolidate their positions at the top of their leaderboard.

Going back to those inaugural World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, the move towards continental-bred show jumping horses by Irish riders was already apparent, with Eddie Macken opting for the Westfalian mare Welfenkrone (by Waldersee). Another feature of the Stockholm games was the increasingly rare sight of a pure thoroughbred Gem Twist (by Good Twist) making it through to the final four with American rider Greg Best.

Fast forward 24 years and two equine generations later to Normandy, and the huge changes that have occurred in European breeding are evident. That Ireland can produce world-calibre riders is beyond question, as seen by their performance and near-Olympic qualification by the team. And in comparison to the previous championships in Kentucky, where no Irish-bred show jumping horses competed, two were in action at Caen.

They were the highly-experienced Castlefield Eclipse (by OBOS Quality 004), already an Olympic and European championship veteran with Paul Estermann and the 10-year-old Suma’s Zorro (by Ard VDL Douglas), competed by Egypt’s Samel El Dahan. Both mares represent the switch by Irish breeders to continental performance bloodlines in order to compete with European counterparts.

One of the first to make that move was the late Frank Kernan, whose stallion Touchdown made his mark at the halfway-point in the games modern history. That was 1992, the year Liscalgot, by Kernan’s Galoubet A stallion, was the world champion Dermott Lennon’s horse at Jerez de la Frontera. Bringing the number of Irish Sport Horses at Jerez to six, (three less than at Stockholm) was Carling King (by Clover Hill) who placed eighth with Kevin Babington, Richmont Park (by Coevers Diamond Boy), Abbervail Dream (by Chair Lift), Swanky (by Furisto) and King Cavalier (by Cavalier Royale).

Leading the field after the first day of the latest games was the brilliantly talented Bertram Allen, whose Longines Dublin Grand Prix Molly Malone VII traces back to one of the French National Stud foundation sires, Furioso, through her dual-purpose sire, Kannan.

Her dam is by Cavalier, although not the ‘Irish Cavalier’, as the Holsteiner Cavalier Royale, who had a considerable impact on Irish-bred eventers at the World Games, was known. Instead the Anglo European-registered mare’s damsire is the KWPN’s 1984 model, also named San Patrignano Mister during his own show jumping career with Franke Sloothaak.

The bloodlines of the other Irish team horses also illustrate the type of horsepower now needed at championship level. Denis Lynch, next best of the Irish in ninth place, has the Hannoverian nine-year-old All Star 5, by Argentinus out of an Alme dam; Imothep (by Indoctro) was one place behind the London Olympics gold medal winner Nino Des Buissonetts (by Kannan) for Darragh Kenny in 12th and Cameron Hanley’s Antello Z (by Animo II Z) is another consistent 1.60m performer.  

Moving on to the 29 horses in the individual decider and it is clear to see why the leading continental studbooks dominate the WBFSH rankings. The Belgian Warmbloedpaard (BWP), Holsteiner and Selle  Français had five apiece in the startlist, followed by Westfalian (four), KWPN (three), Hannoverian and the other Belgian registry, the Studbook le Cheval de Sport Belge (SBS) had two representatives, while the Anglo European, Danish and Swedish studbooks had one apiece.

Just two sires – Cornet Obolensky and Kannan – had two progeny at this business end of the championships, although it was the relatively unknown Holsteiner sire Randel Z who produced the best horse on the final day. This was bronze medallist Beezie Madden’s horse Cortes C, a product of the Belgian’s open door breeding policy. His pedigree contains multiple bloodline crosses, including Darco, several appearances of Cottage Son and the Normandy great, Furioso.

Even in the absence of the injured Big Star, the presence of his sire Quick Star, yet another Almé stallion descendant, was still felt at Caen. Home crowd favourite and silver medallist winner Patrice Delaveau’s Orient Express HDC is another bred in the heart of Normandy and his damsire is the well-known Le Tot De Semilly.

Rash R, the sire of gold medallist Jeroen Dubbeldam’s KWPN-registered Zenith SFN, may not be quite such a household name but the Canadian export is beautifully-bred. His own sire Cash is by the legendary Cor de la Bryère out of Landgrafin. She was a full-sister to Landgraf, who Rash R is line-bred to on his damline, another to feature Almé.

Eventing has proved a lifeline for maintaining the Irish-bred horse’s presence on the world stage. However, as seen in the list of Irish-bred medallists since the Games in their present format began in 1990, even that number has paled since their Aachen bonanza eight years ago when Irish-breds won both individual and team medals. The long format was still in use when the combined championships games were introduced in 1990. Stockholm was also the setting for one of eventing cross-country’s most famous cross-country rounds courtesy of Ian Stark and the flying grey, Murphy Himself. When asked at Dublin, where Stark was judging last month, if Murphy Himself would have coped with short format eventing, the course designer, commentator and Jockey Club steward replied: “He would certainly have coped but I might have been pulled up for dangerous riding! He was a law unto himself, he did take strides out and that might now be considered dangerous riding.”

And 24 years later, the thoroughbred influence was still as evident at the Normandy games, where many of the finalists had one thoroughbred parent. These included seven top-10 medallists and prizewinners such as FischerRocana FST (silver), Chilli Morning (bronze), Classic Moet (fourth), Fletcha Van‘t Verahof (sixth), Horseware’s Barny (seventh), Shamwari 4 (eighth), Nereo (ninth) and So Is Et (10th).

Just outside that top-10 was the Irish Sport Horse High Kingdom who catapulted up to 11th place, from 53rd after dressage with cross country and show jumping clear rounds. The traditionally-bred 13-year-old was the sole Irish Sport Horse amongst only eight double clears on both days, with the individual gold and silver medal winners for Germany – Opgun Louvo and FischerRocana FST – amongst this elite group.

Of the 13 clear show jumping rounds, five were delivered by warmbloods – Opgun Louvo (SF), Vira (KWPN), Qalao Des Mers (SF), FRH Escada JS (HANN) and Makara De Montiege (SF); three each by TB-sired warmblood crosses - FischerRocana FST (SATHU), Horseware’s Barny (HOLST) and Rumour Has It (HOLST) and traditional thoroughbred/Irish Draught mixes – High Kingdom (by Master Imp), Electric Cruise (by Cruising) and Kilrodan Abbott (by Clover Brigade).

The German team horse Hop And Skip (by Skippy Too) is a mixture of traditional and continental through his Skippy and Catherston lines, while Fernhill Fearless (by Mark Twain) is another by a thoroughbred sire and out of an unrecorded dam. Three Selle Francais horses, including team and individual gold medal winner Opgun Louvo, in the top-20 explain the French studbook’s rise to the top of the penultimate WBFSH rankings.

Solid performances by Kilronan (15th) and Paulank Brockagh (17th), two of just five top-20 horses at Normandy to have also completed an equally gruelling Badminton earlier in the season, also put the pair at the top of the Irish Sport Horse team in the WBFSH standings.

Another interesting WEG feature was the abundance of mares at top level, including several FEHL and Le Lion D’Angers graduates such as Paulank Brockagh – another to trace back to Almé; Annie Clover, Fenya’s Elegance and the mare that won the six-year-old title at Le Lion in 2011, tackled her first four-star at Luhmühlen in June (placing second) and then won individual silver in Normandy for the genius that is Michael Jung: FischerRocana FST.

Opgun Louvo, who epitomises the modern event horse, is another former Le Lion d’Angers prizewinner. He placed third there in 2009, three years before taking individual bronze and team gold at the London Olympics with Sandra Auffarth. Having led after dressage, then briefly headed by close rivals William Fox-Pitt and Chilli Morning after cross-country, the pair gave an exhibition show jumping round to win gold. Breeders will find much to mull over from the 2014 World Equestrian Games pedigrees. The underlying lesson from studbooks that started the process decades ago is, if breeding for show jumping performance, breed from top show jumping performers and families.

And, while some thoroughbred-sired eventers bred on the continent now resemble what was bred in greater numbers here in the past, the thoroughbred influence is set to stay in event horse breeding.