Susan Finnerty
LUIDAM
1993. 165cms
HSI classification: Approved
Show jumping performance rating: five-star
Show jumping progeny rating: five-star
LUIDAM has undoubtedly enjoyed a sensational 2014 as a sire with Ard Ginger Pop as the talking horse of the Irish circuit last season and Blue Angel continuing to climb the WBFSH rankings. Add in the promising young eventer Dam Easy and it is clear to see how Luidam’s reputation continues to grow which is a similar story to his own sire Guidam.
Dublin was a happy hunting ground for Luidam in his competition years with Billy Twomey and the pair’s clear round in the 2004 Aga Khan Nations Cup, sealing an Irish win, is an iconic moment.
His progeny also excelled at Dublin last year with Blue Angel and Kent Farrington winning the Serpentine Speed Stakes there in the same week that BP Castlefield claimed the four-year-old title with Greg Broderick. The third of Ludiam’s progeny to shine at Dublin was Ard Ginger Pop, reserve in the five-year-old final, which was just after she had landed the same age title in the ISH Studbook series.
Ard Ginger Pop went on to win the Millstreet Ruby five-year-old final with Ger O’Neill, before topping the Goresbridge Supreme Sale of Showjumpers when sold for €95,000. With her new Swedish rider Angelica Augustsson, the talented mare’s amazing run continued with a silver medal at the WBFSH young horse championships at Lanaken.
Blue Angel also enjoyed a stellar year which ended with the British-bred mare’s individual 12th place in the WBFSH show jumping rankings after a number of other wins at up to 1.60m level at Los Angeles, Rome and Spruce Meadows. She and Farrington have already made a bright start to their season by matching their 2014 form in Wellington with a repeat win last month in the 1.60m Grand Prix there.
Luidam was also one of the few stallions to have progeny at both WBFSH young horse championships when Heidi Hamilton’s Dam Easy was selected for the Irish team at the eventing finals at Le Lion D’Angers. The talented two-star horse is another to get off to a quick start with his win last Sunday in the CNC** class at Ballindenisk (1).
His earlier international progeny number Michael Whitaker’s Simon; Luikka, Amelie and LB Rendam.
Luidam won a multitude of prestigious titles during his own career, from the Foxhunter final to the La Baule Grand Prix. He and Twomey were also part of a Nations Cup winning streak from Aachen to St Gallen and the pair also competed at the 2003 European championships, where Ireland qualified for the Athens Olympic Games.
Guidam, Luidam’s sire, is well known to Irish and international breeders for producing the multiple Olympic, world and European medal winning Authentic and Ninja La Silla. Luidam also shares the same Lucky Boy grandam as Ludger Beerbaum’s Chaman.
The only approved son of his Keur-awarded sire standing in Ireland, the Pewit Stud sire is now available in partnership with Euro Stallions and Robertson Equine.
JE T’AIME FLAMENCO
2000. 168cms.
HSI classification: Approved
Show jumping performance rating: five-star
WITH his progeny several years younger than those of his Pewit Stud stable companion, the waiting game is still on until the main crops of scopey son of Flamenco de Semilly’s main crops reach the competition circuit.
The Belgian-bred stallion was another to notch up an impressive performance career with Twomey, having won seven major Grand Prix classes.
That list includes back-to-back wins at Amsterdam (2009 & 2010), St Gallen, Barcelona and Valencia for the highest money-winning sire in the 2009/2010 British Showjumping rankings. Je T’Aime Flamenco also won the Grand Prix at the Horse of the Year Show’s Diamond Jubilee fixture, quickly followed by another Grand Prix win at the Belfast International.
Slotted in between more good results at Aachen, Bordeaux and St Gallen, were several call-ups for Nations Cup duty including Aachen, Abu Dhabi, St Gallen and Dublin, where the combination placed third in the homeground Grand Prix. The pair were also selected for the Irish team at the 2009 European championships at Windsor.
Je T’aime was also in the prizemoney in the £300,000 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Global Champions Tour round at Doha.
Picked out at the SCOPE Show Jumping Festival, where Je T’Aime Flamenco won the seven-year-old championship, the stallion’s progeny are starting to make their own mark in young horse classes. Some of his earlier British-born progeny include Roma IV, who successfully competed in the Hickstead age classes, Kimba Flamenco, winner of the SEIB novice championship qualifier at the Longines Royal International Horse Show and Spanish Sunshine Tour campaigner Pewit Oitimo.
British Nations Cup team member Jessie Drea also thinks highly of her Je T’Aime Flamenco youngster Lonesome George, praising his world-class ability, rideability and temperament.
More Pewit homebred youngsters include Je T’Aime Flamenco and Luidam offspring, the result of embryo transfers from Sue Davies’ good mare Anastasia, partnered by Twomey during her competition years.
Other Je T’Aime Flamenco novices just starting to emerge on the Irish circuit include Linda Courtney’s LCC Katenko, Julieanne Gaffney’s CSF Salut Flamenco and Richie Moloney’s Flamenco Flight.
Both of Je T’Aime Flamenco’s full-brothers Dollar De Semilly and Vraitot are approved stallions and their French sire, Flamenco de Semilly, competed at 1.50m level. Their grandsire Le Tot De Semilly is best known as the sire of Edwina Tops-Alexander’s consistently brilliant Global Champions Tour and dual Olympic horse, Itot Du Chateau. Another famous ‘Tot’ son is Diamant De Semilly who produced another Aga Khan hero in the late Pacino.
The legendary Langraf, sire of Burggraaf, Libero and Landadel, and interestingly, the Dewhurst Stakes winner, Try My Best, also appear in Je T’aime Flamenco’s damline. Other noted thoroughbred influences in his pedigree include Ladykiller, Fra Diavolo, Orange Peel, Umidwar, My Babu and Hyperion.
Details
Euro Stallions is a Tullamore-based stallion semen agency and EU-approved semen storage centre. The aim of veterinary surgeon Emma-Rose Conroy’s company is to provide horse breeders with easy access to some of the sport horse world’s leading stallions.
Links with leading studs and agents, such as The Stallion Company, Stal De Muze, Haras De Brullemail, Paul Schockemöhle, Semilly Stud, Holsteiner Verband, Team Nijhof and Harthill Stud, allow customers a wide variety of top sires to select from for their breeding programmes.