For the past four decades, most of the leading show jumpers in the world have been produced out of bloodlines descending from leading sires Ladykiller and Cor de la Bryere. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, 45 percent of the show jumpers traced their pedigrees to Ladykiller and 34 percent to Cor de la Bryere.

Dr. Pete Birdsall, the leading sport horse pedigree analyst in North America, asserts that’s evidence that the genetic pool is getting narrower and a reason for concern.

Ladykiller and Cor de la Bryere’s bloodlines were not as dominant in the 1984 Olympic show jumping horses as they are today. In 1987, only 10 of the top 683 show jumpers traced their bloodlines to Cor de la Bryere and five traced their bloodlines to Ladykiller.

Today, 60 percent of the top 50 jumpers in the world trace their bloodlines back to either Ladykiller or Cor de la Bryere.

“We need to keep the not-so-popular lines and perpetuate those as well, because we’re losing the outcrosses and the influence of the popular lines can peter out through generations,” said Birdsall.

In a recent study, Birdsall analyzed the pedigrees of the world’s leading show jumpers from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2004. Birdsall collected the results of the 131 international grand prix events and/or World Cup qualifiers in Europe and North America, and found that 94 individual horses won the competitions, making them the substance of the study.

He also analyzed the top 50 jumping horses in the world, using data collected from Oct. 1, 2003, to Sept. 30, 2004, as determined by the World Breeding for Sport Horses organization.

Birdsall included in his research the horses that won World Cup qualifiers, grand prix events at major competitions in Europe and North America, plus Water-ford Crystal, the horse who finished first in the Athens Olympics. He then generated a four-generation pedigree for each winner. Occasionally, an event’s winner wasn’t included because of inadequate pedigree information for that particular horse.

His study helps to determine which families have contributed to developing horses with highly specialized jumping talent.

“If you’re going to have horses at the top level, they have to be designed for the job. A horse can only perform to his genetic level–you can’t make a horse out-perform his genetic ability,” said Birdsall.

The 94 horses in Birdsall’s study group represented 15 breeds: Holsteiner (23), Dutch Warmblood (22), Selle Franç¡©s (11), Oldenburg (8), Hanoverian (6), Belgian Warmblood (5), Irish Sport Horse (5), Westphalian (4), Swedish Warmblood (4), Anglo-Arab (1), Bavarian (1), Swiss (1), Danish Warmblood (1), Rheinlander (1), and Thoroughbred (1).

Of the 94 international winners in 2004, the bloodlines of the stallions Ladykiller and Cor de la Bryere occurred most frequently. Based on a four-generation pedigree for each winner, Ladykiller’s bloodline was found in 27 (29%) of the 94 winners and Cor de la Bryere’s appeared in 24 (25%) of the 94–a total slightly less than (but consistent with) the WBFSH top 50.

“Cor de la Bryere and Ladykiller are able to pass on talent genetically through natural testing. Their offspring have proven to be careful and good jumpers,” said Birdsall.

The Thoroughbred Influence

Although only one of the top 50 horses in the WBFSH group was a Thoroughbred, 41 percent of the horses are 21 to 60 percent Thoroughbred. Ladykiller, a Thoroughbred, sired former jumping greats Landgraf I, Lord, and Leander, and he’s prominent in the pedigrees of current jumping stars Montender and Portofino.

Observed Birdsall, “Thoroughbred lines have not been selected for show jumping. It’s difficult to determine which ones are producing, and it is, therefore, easier to pick from proven lines.”

Of the 15 jumpers descending from Ladykiller in the WBFSH group, 10 (66%) of the horses also descend from Cor de la Bryere, a Selle Francais stallion, who is ranked in second place.

Cor de la Bryere’s bloodline is found through a number of his sons: Calypso I, Calypso II, Corrado I, Caletto I, Caletto II, Constant, Convent, Corvado, Calando I, and Calando IV. Montender carries Cor de la Bryere twice, once through his son Calypso I and once through his daughter Loanda.

Rantzau is the sire of Cor de la Bryere, so he too appears often in four-generation pedigrees. In fact, he’s ranked right behind his son in Birdsall’s analysis of the 94 winners and on the WBFSH top 50.

One horse who doesn’t descend from Rantzau through Cor de la Bryere, though, is Baloubet du Rouet (now the 2004 Olympic gold medalist and the three-time winner of the FEI World Cup Final), who is from Rantzau’s son Starter.

Interestingly, the Ladykiller–Cor de la Bryere–Ramiro combination also produced five jumpers in the WBFSH top 50 of 2003-2004: Waterford Crystal, Montender, Check Mate, Abrisca and Le Patron.

Of course, you can find other stallions in these winners’ pedigrees. The leading sire of jumpers in 2002-2004, as determined by the WBFSH, was Quidam De Revel, a son of Jalisco B, a son of Alme. Quidam De Revel doesn’t descend from either Ladykiller or Cor de la Bryere. Alme’s sire is Ibrahim.

Furioso, a Thoroughbred, is still extensively found in four generations of pedigrees of current jumpers, even though he was born in 1939. Although much of his influence today is through his son Furioso II and Furioso II’s son, Voltaire, Furioso is also prominent in Jalisco B and the Hanoverian jumping stallion For Pleasure.

Cottage Son, a Thoroughbred, was a very influential sire in the Holsteiner breed. Today, his name is found in relation to four prominent Holsteiner stallions: Ramiro, Capitano, Capitol I, and the Belgian Warmblood stallion Darco.

Gotthard, a Hanoverian, also exerts his greatest influence through his sons. His sons include: Gepard, Graf Gotthard, Gottschalk, Goya, and Gardstern I. But Gotthard’s daughter, Gogo Moeve, is the dam of the stallion Voltaire.

North America Mirrors Europe

The majority of the horses ranked in the WBFSH’s top 50 are horses based in Europe, but six of those horses were ridden by American riders: Judgement (Beezie Madden), Authentic (Madden), Fein Cera (Peter Wylde), Royal Kaliber (Chris Kappler), Clasiko (Lauren Hough), and Marlou (Kim Frey).

Birdsall researched the top 30 grand prix winners in North America, which included the six horses listed above, and analyzed their pedigrees.

Cor de la Bryere can be found in seven out of 30 (23%) of the American winners, compared to 15 of the world’s top 50 (30%). Rantzau is found in six out of 30 (20%) of North American winners, compared to 14 (28%) of the 94 winners.

While Ladykiller’s bloodline dominates in Europe, with 15 (30%) of the top 50 tracing their bloodlines back to him, his bloodline only occurs in four (13%) of the North American winners.

According to Birdsall, Ladykiller is more influential outside of North America because “when Ladykiller stood in Europe, the ma-
jority of the broodmares in North America were Thoroughbreds. Ladykiller’s bloodline was more proven in Europe since he crossed better with warmblood mares.”

In addition, poor record keeping in North America prevented breeders from linking lineage in relation to performance until about 20 years ago. It was not until the 1980s that U.S. organizations began tracking pedigrees and show records, a process that’s not yet fully centralized. In contrast, European governments have long controlled the record keeping, allowing breeders to link pedigrees in relation to performance.

With the exception of Ladykiller, North American pedigrees of the top jumpers mirror those of the top 50 jumpers in the world in 2004. Alme’s bloodline is found in six of the top 30 (20%) in North America, compared to 10 of the world’s top 50 (20%). Both Cottage Son’s and Furioso’s bloodlines are each found in five (17%) of the top horses in North America, compared to 10 (20%) among the world’s top 50.

For more information on the bloodlines of leading show jumpers, go to www.grotonmanor.com/winners2004/2004jumpers.pdf.