Stud and Stallion reports - March 06 Astek Stud Holsteiner sire Ramirez (Ramiro Z / Roberto) certainly more than proved his impeccable jumping bloodlines and worth as a sire of talented jumpers at the recent National Young Horse Breeders Championships in Taupo. Cheleken Heidi won the title of 5yo National Showhunter Champion. Mind Games was 4th in the 5yo National Showjumping Championship. Kaipara Allied was 4th in the 6yo National Showjumping Championship. Considering Ramirez served limited mare numbers in his early seasons at stud and class numbers were into the 40s, we were thrilled to hear of these latest results from his oldest progeny and look forward to seeing much more of them in the future. Our first Astek bred foals by Ramirez are upstanding, correct types with natural presence and great movement. We are also thoroughly enjoying the character displayed in the 2yo and 5yo Ramirez progeny we have to work with. Young Hanoverian Kinnordy Gym Bello (Gymnastik Star / Graf Landau) has really impressed again with another very high calibre foal crop hitting the ground this season. We are extremely excited to have such a consistent young sire in our breeding programme and can't wait to see his very beautiful and versatile youngsters out under saddle in years to come. In November we took yearling filly Astek Geneva to the NZWHA South Island Warmblood Show, where she was 2nd in the Yearling Colt, Gelding or Filly class, then won her division of the Best Paced Up To 3 Years class, great results for her first outing. Gym Bello was also presented for his NZWHA stallion licensing in September and showed off his very social temperament and wonderful movement to the group of classifiers and onlookers. Due to his past major injury he was not expected to complete the free-jumping phase of the classification, however during the free-movement phase he gave us all an impromptu display of his keen attitude and scopey technique when he twice bounded down the jumping lane of his own accord! (Great style I might add!!). We are very pleased to announce he passed the classification with great scores and his foals can now be registered and branded with the NZWHA as a mark of quality. We hope everyone is having a successful breeding season with high pregnancy rates and that the wait for new foals has all been worthwhile. Please check out our website www.Astek.co.nz for lots of new foals photos and more stud news. Diana and Sue, Astek Stud, Christchurch From Australia ... Leonie McAteer Leonie is the daughter of a founding member of our association – Val McAteer. She currently resides in Victoria on the Mornington Peninsula (famous for the racehorse trainers of the area) and has a team of jumping horses there. Leonie owns Stoneylea Levitation (Levi) who is competing successfully at GP showjumping – so much so that Leonie is now a member of the Victorian squad with this horse. Stoneylea Levitation is of interesting breeding to say the least – by Catherino (Andalusian) out of Whitefields Holly (Ramzes II/ Mt Everest) – bred by another founding member - Robin Whitefield. Levi was then bred by committee member Angela Smith from Tuakau – and she sold him on to Leonie whose mother Val is a near neighbour and friend of Angela's. Val has continued to breed one or two horses over the years and is able to supply Leonie with new prospects as a result. Her Distelfink mare, Dare (Properteze xx) has also produced an Anamour gelding that has recently been sold to Gavin Chester for a client after his performance at Dressage and Jumping with the Stars at Werribee. Recently 2 half siblings by the classified stallion Damascus (Dynamit) have been shipped to Australia to be brought on. They are currently at training level. More recently Leonie took delivery of two more Val and Angela offspring ... An Esprit (Hann) out of Dare and a Longchamps (Hann) out of Angela’s great GP dressage mare – trained and ridden to this level by her breeder and owner Eric Ropiha - Felicitation (Winnebago) daughter by Anamour – called Stoneylea Longfellow. Another interesting twist to this story is that Dare is a full sister to Duchess LS who of course is the dam of another of our newer stallions – Damontez LS – owned in partnership between Anne Marie Morgan, who purchased Duchess in foal to Sam I Am LS at the Longspring dispersal sale - and Tina Fagan's Starlight Stud. Tina is currently having success jumping BOTH Duchess LS and her son Damontez LS. Starlight Farm Sport Horse Stud Starlight Farm Sport Horse Stud, New Zealand's nursery of quality performance horses, specialising in today's equestrian disciplines of eventing, showjumping and dressage. Nestled in the Coromandel Ranges, Starlight Farm is comprised of 300 rolling acres. Native bush, natural springs, and spectacular coastal views are the background to Starlight Farm's growing sport horse export market. The stallion standing at Starlight Farm is Damontez LS, bred by Rupert and Anne Vallance of Long Spring Stud (NZ). Damontez is a grandson of the champion and hugely influential sporthorse sire Distelfink; who has in turn, left many domestic and international performers. These include jumping sensations: Jeep Supermoth, NRM Falcon, Duty Free, Dealer, Diomedes; and world class eventers NRM Denver, GV Braveheart, Danzar Damontez LS is by the outstanding jumper, Sam I Am LS; a full brother to the brilliant Grand Prix winner Diomedes LS (formerly ridden by Phillip Steiner). His dam, Duchess LS is a daughter of Distelfink, thus providing line breeding enthusiasts a blueblood double cross of the highly desirable Distelfink line. Duchess LS is currently competing in her first season under saddle with Sam Henderson and showing outstanding ability over fences. In his first season at stud, Damontez LS, served a limited, but high quality, book of mares. These predominant female lines were selected based on pedigree, performance and conformation. Damontez LS's 2004 and 2005 crop of foals has proven that his offspring are definitely thrown to type. Overall Damontez LS's progeny are correct, powerful, of good size and bone, sound and above all possess his easy going nature and trainable attitude. Already proving themselves with Starlight Diamond winning Sport Horse Foal class at the Waikato All Breeds Show and Reserve Champion Young Stock at Rotorua A&P Show on her only two outings and Starlight Damascus was second in the Warmblood Foal class at the Waikato All Breeds Show, his only outing to date. Damontez LS himself is showing fantastic talent in the jumping arena; and is competing in his second season currently doing the five year old series. Starlight Draco at the 2005 Stallion parade in Karaka. Starlight Farm has a selection of progeny for sale. All are well handled and well balanced. They are sound and brave having been raised on Starlight Farm's hills. More information can be obtained from Tina Fagan or their website –www.starlightfarm.co.nz.