WHAT OF OUR STAR PERFORMERS? By Robin Potter, June 2003 Robin Potter looks at the breeding of some stand-out horses from over the recent years – Jagermeister, NRM Denver, Danzar, Winter Oak, Writzmarc, Flugelmann, Fleetsin. When one looks into their pedigrees there is very little in common. No one particular thing stands out as a determining factor. Therefore one has to conclude that they had a lot more than pre-potent bloodlines to make them successful. Jagermeister (Polarschnee -Trakehner)- had pony in the background of his dam Just Luck (although she was largely Thoroughbred). (picture: Andrew Nicholson and Jagermeister at the 1994 World Championships) Polarschnee (Trak) Imp from Germany /Just Luck born 1986 Bred by – Sylvia and Peter McLean, Kaiapoi. Sold to Sally Field-Dodgson to start his training, then to Nicola Laing who began his HT training, then on to Libby Sellars for her late daughter Amy to event. Andrew Nicholson rode Jagermeister at the Hague World Champs in 1994 then at Atlanta in 1996 for a Bronze team medal. Andrew’s niece now rides the horse in the Young Rider showjumping competitions. Winter Oak (Winnebago) has the three star Hanoverian Studbook mare Arctic Oak xx (Oakville/Arctic Ocean/Bally Royal) as his dam. Danzar (Distelfink) has that famous Fair Trial blood through his dam Sorceress - Fair Clare/Fair’s Fair/Fair Trial Writzmarc (Witzbold) has Nasrullah in the sire line not the mare line though. Dam -Vin’s Gift/Rich Gift/Bridgelaw/Probation (picture: Writzmarc was sold to The Netherlands and is shown here in their team competing at the Olympic Games.) Bred by Sarah Milne’s father Len Milne of Hamilton. Writzmarc is by Witzbold from Vin’s Gift (1982). This horse went on to perform well at dressage, showjumping and horse trials in New Zealand before being sold to a Dutch stable. He represented The Netherlands in the Three Day Event at the Barcelona Olympic Games. Flugelmann (Wohler II) has a very New Zealand dam line but a strong sire line through Head Hunter. Dam Kukri – Headhunter/Steel Crescent/Steel Tray/Tea Tray. Fleetsin (Trick or Treat) won the Young Sporthorse of the Year as two year old and went on to compete successfully in Horse Trials. He also has the Fair Trial AND Precipitaion blood on his dam side. Dam Devonshire (The Admiral II/Evenly/Even Stevens/Fair’s Fair. NRM Denver (Distelfink) has probably the closest links to what we have been proffering in the previous article. His dam Souvrette is by So Vain/Caverlette/Red Mars/Hyperion. One has to congratulate the breeders, trainers and riders of these horses for doing such an excellent job in making them as successful as they have been. Let’s all try to keep the excellent work going – take on board some of the information we have provided and go forward. We hope that this helps next time you are at the Thoroughbred sales pouring over the catalogue having great difficulty making decisions and little flashes of memory come bouncing back and that you end up buying the ideal mare to breed an international eventing horse. THEN you have to decide on the stallion!There are so many choices now with the better techniques with frozen semen that really there is no limit to the possibilities – just to make the process even more complicated. Good luck.