WBFSH Sires’ Rankings 2025

Diamantenglanz , most popular in Westfalia

Just who are the top sires on this year’s rankings?

It is interesting that while the WBFSH sires rankings are so static that they might well be set in stone, the list of stallions who actually get the most mares fluctuates wildly with new faces appearing every breeding season, while last year’s top of the pops quietly fades into obscurity. Some breed societies are a little coy about releasing the figures, but we do know that in 2023 the most used stallion in the Westfalen book was Diamantenglanz (Diamond First / Bon Coeur). While the jumping breeders stuck to the proven genes of Cornet Obolensky (Clinton / Heartbreaker).

Extreme US

The most used KWPN stallion in 2023 was Extreme US (Escamillo / Vivaldi). Up north in Sweden, the figures are more up-to-date, so we know the most popular 2025 stallion was Devin Franco G (Vivino /Bon Coeur).

Devin Franco (photo – Michaela Sword)

Only a five-year-old, Devin Franco has recently been returned to his previous owner breeder, due to breathing issues. This only underlines the concern many astute breeders have, that so many of the popular young stallions never go on to a competition career, or even a performance test, due to unsoundness, giving rise to the question, what will the long-term effect on the gene pool be? To compound the issue, Devin Franco’s sire, Vivino, is now nine years old, with not one single performance result on the FEI data base.

Donnerhall, truly a great sire…

Let’s look at the latest sires rankings, but first consider what makes a top sire… Obviously performance at the highest level is a fair start, but not the be-all and end-all, there has been more than a few show ring stars who have been duds at stud and vice versa. Taking into account my first paragraph, we’d like to see a stallion who has lasted, and proved his soundness. Take for instance, the undoubtedly great Donnerhall, competing for the last time, as a German team member at the Rome WEG at the age of nineteen. We’d also like a sire who has stamped his progeny with a certain attribute. Once again, looking at Donnerhall, it has been their willingness to work and trainability. A particular attribute can even out-weigh competition results. Take the example of Rubinstein, not a great competitor, not even the sire of great competitors, but a proven font of great temperament – indeed there are some canny breeders whose eyes light up at the R word, even if it is in the fourth line of a pedigree.

The other quality we seek is the ability to sire sires, this is where the third of the once dominant triumvirate Donnerhall,  Rubinstein, Weltmeyer, falls apart, even given chances offered to no other in the Hanoverian book, Weltmeyer, like Rubinstein has failed to produce a stallion son of note, I’m sure the string of D stallion stars springs quickly to mind.

Johnson

Once again, the Number One WBFSH dressage sire, is Johnson (Jazz / Flemmingh), for the fourth time in succession, so he must be a great sire, well maybe…

Johnson was a solid performer with Hans Peter Minderhoud, the best of his two career Grand Prix wins was at Rotterdam with a 79.240. He passes our soundness test, competing to the age of seventeen.

Progeny? His best performer on the current rankings is Hartsuiker (Scandic) ranked 19^th in the world. He has 33 approved stallion sons, but again no stars, Hexagon Double Dutch ranks 176^th while Meggles Boston comes in at 302.

And what does he pass on to his progeny? The KWPN progeny report summary notes:

A uniform collection of well-developed riding-type foals with good rectangular-shaped conformation and which are appreciated in motion. The foals use their legs well and show abundant elasticity as well as good self-carriage. However we must note that his progeny can be prone to buck, indeed at least one well-regarded Dutch training stable won’t have a Johnson in their barn, not even the progeny of a Johnson mare.

Totilas, now proving a sire

This year Totilas (Gribaldi / Glendale) moves up from fourth to second. There were many, and I confess I was one of them, who thought the black stallion more a result than a likely cause, but he has proven us wrong, albeit with the aid of a enormous number of mares, whose quality was more or less guaranteed by the huge stud fee, at least in the first few seasons. His top four points earners are all ranked in the world top thirty, with his top points earner, Isabel Freese’s star ride, Total Hope (winner of eleven Grand Prix), out of Isabell Werth’s international star, Weihegold (Don Schufro / Sandro Hit). The rest are also royally bred – his number two, Gotilas du Feuillard out of a mare by Ferro, Toto Jr (Desperados) and Torvestlettens Titanium (Stedinger).

Total Hope

The rest of the top ten are an interesting mix of those who were successful Grand Prix competitors, and those who were not. Third on the rankings, Quaterback (Quaterman I / Brandenburger), had no FEI level competition, fourth ranked Vitalis (Vivaldi / D-Day) was a moderate Prix St Georges competitor, but has been an impressive sire and sire of sires, while Zack  in fifth (Rousseau / Jazz), was a serious international Grand Prix star. Sixth ranked Apache (UB40 / Krack C), competed Grand Prix, although he was somewhat unpredictable in the arena, but has been the sire of good Grand Prix horses.

Quaterback scoring 10 for his canter as a 3-y-o

Coming in at seventh we have Dante Weltino whose breeding harks back to some of the previous ranking stars, he is by the De Niro son, Danone I out of a mare by the Weltmeyer son, Welt Hit II.

Dante Weltino

The black stallion has been a fine Grand Prix competitor but is now proving an exciting sire, which no doubt accounts for his leap up the rankings from 31^st last year.

Jazz competing at Jerez, sire of Johnson

Slipping from 5^th to 8^th we have the great Jazz (Cocktail / Ulster) who will always remain one of the dressage greats, a Grand Prix competitor and a legendary sire.

Jumping Sires

I still remember, with a degree of incredulity, the phone call I received from a man who prides himself on being a top jumping breeder. What stallions should I use next season? he asked, who are going to be the hot sires? He was put-out when I explained that I would need to know which mares, and what they needed. It’s the formula that makes true breeders. I remember Alois Pollman-Schweckhorst who rode Chacco-Blue (ranked third on this year’s standings) throughout his career, telling me what the bay stallion put on his progeny:

“He has given to the next generation a wonderful technique, front leg technique, and the most obvious thing is the positive attitude to the sport. Some of the horses, they might be a little bit delicate in the beginning, when they are young they are a little bit freaky, a little bit spooky, not really spooky but their senses are 100%, what they hear, what they see, and it takes them a little while to settle. This is not a weakness, this is something that every good young horse has.”

“Chacco Blue, a positive attitude to the sport…”

He also made the point that while the stallion’s owner, Paul Schockemöhle, put Chacco-Blue over many many mares he knew each one thoroughly, how they were bred, but more importantly what they bred.

Cornet Obolensky competing at Aachen

Looking at this year’s top ten they are all wonderful stallions, it is up to the breeder to analyse what his mare needs to make a selection. So what factors do we have to take into account before we breed to this year’s number one, Cornet Obolensky (Clinton / Heartbreaker). The grey stallion was a jumping sensation, but his rider, Marco Kutscher told me how difficult he was, especially at the beginning of their partnership.

“He was four when I started riding him. I took him to a real show when he was five. I remember it exactly, in May, the first outdoor show. Cornet was special, at home he was lazy, not even like a stallion, but when you took him off the truck somewhere else, he was like a lion. He was going on two legs, crazy, screaming, wild, not under control, nothing – he forgot everything you taught him at home. At home, you almost had to kick him to go.”

Although he has been one of the most successful sires in jumping history, his progeny are renowned for being a bit ‘special’, perhaps we should be looking for mares with an excellent temperament, since it seems Cornet puts everything else on his progeny, carefulness, power and scope, with the proviso that they may need a skilled and tactful rider to get along with them.

Kannan

Number two on the rankings is Kannan (Voltaire / Nimmerdor) who is almost the opposite since he has the reputation of producing horses that are so rideable that  if they are not international stars – and there are plenty of them – they can be enjoyed by even amateur riders.

Diamant

Ranked fourth is that wonderful athlete and sire, Diamant de Sémilly (Le Tot de Sémilly / Elf II). An Olympic competitor with his breeder’s son, his influence as a sire has spread all over Europe, indeed for a while he looked more popular in Holstein than his native France, though the balance has been restored, with his top eight points earners this year all branded Selle Français, led by the world’s number three, Bond Jamesbond de Hay (out of a Kannan mare). Diamant is currently the leading sire of licensed stallions, with an astonishing 169 approved sons.

Mylord Carthago

The next horse in our top ten, Mylord Carthago (Carthago / Jalisco B) raises yet another selection issue, are we breeding for a quick return, or lasting fame and glory? Again, let Anaud Evain make the point:

“Mylord has from Carthago the athletic ability, but it took Mylord Carthago a long time to become an efficient athlete, and it seems that the progeny of Mylord also needs time to become efficient. They need time to build up. There are two speeds on the market. The speed of selling foals and three year olds, which is the concern of all the people who breed for money and they need to sell young.

Then there are stallions like Mylord and Kannan or For Pleasure, that are not so popular for this business. If you want the first market, there are stallions like Heartbreaker, Caretino, Catoki, cute, spectacular jumpers, even if they haven’t got all the scope and all the power. If you are looking to produce a champion for the long term, you might consider For Pleasure or Kannan or Mylord – the breeder has to decide what he wants to produce.”

Rounding out the top ten are five more fine stallions, there’s no room on the jumping rankings for the unproven products of expensive advertising campaigns.

In order they are: Vigo d’Arouilles (Nabab d’Rêve / Fleuri du Manoir), Comme il Faut (Cornet Obolensky / Ramiro), Toulon (Heartbreaker / Jokinal de Bornival), Emerald (Diamant de Semilly / Carthago)…

Eventing WBFSH 2025 top sires

For all the recent mini-boom in breeding for the sport of eventing, our top sires were mainly bred for the showjumping ring, with only a few proving their worth on the cross-country track.

Diarado

Diarado (Diamant de Sémilly / Corrado), once again heads the standings, with his contingent led by Tom McEwen’s international superstar JL Dublin (Canto 16). Diarado was definitely conceived with showjumping in mind, a fusion of the best of the French, with the best of Holstein. He was a sensation at the Holsteiner Licensing and served huge books of mares in his first few seasons. He did sire a couple of international showjumping stars, but it soon became apparent that the majority of his progeny were, like their dad, mediocre showjumpers. Luckily however it was discovered that they were ideally suited to eventing, especially as the brown stallion had attracted a book of mares of a quality no eventing stallion could dream of.

Jaguar Mail

The second ranked stallion, Jaguar Mail (Hand in Glove xx / Laudanum xx) was much more successful, competing in the Swedish Olympic Showjumping team at the 2008 Games. However with a pedigree that shows 7/8ths Thoroughbred, he was an ideal sire of eventers, but as Thomas Carlile, who rode a couple of his progeny to World Championship success discovered, the best were out of Anglo-Arab mares who gave them a sharpness in front that Jaguar and his get lacked.

Obos Quality

The third ranked Obos Quality (Quick Star / Domino) was a Grand Prix showjumper, but as one of the European stallions imported to Ireland, over those good Irish mares, he became one of the world’s leading sires of eventers.

Upsilon and Thomas Carlile on course

The fourth stallion is the first to have actually starred as an eventer. Upsilon (Canturo / O’vive aa) starred at the World Young Eventing Horse Championships with Thomas Carlile, reserve champion in the seven-year-old class before going on to win a three star at Barbury Castle, then injury cut short his career. He was hailed in France as the saviour of the Anglo Arab breed, since there were hardly any Anglo stallions left, and Upsilon by dint of his Anglo dam, qualified for the AA suffix. The most successful of Upsilon’s get this season has been the 4* mare, Golden de Beliard AA ridden by, you guessed it, Thomas Carlile.

Grafenstolz and Michael Jung

The fifth stallion, the Trakehner, Grafenstolz (Polarion TSF / Camelot) won a World Six year old championship with Michael Jung, and went on to compete three-star before concentrating on his stud career. His top competitor is one of the world’s true eventing superstars, Lordships Graffalo, ranked number two in the world with Ros Canter. Lordships Graffalo is out of Cornish Queen who reminds us that there were a few (very few) brave souls who were actually breeding for eventers before it became fashionable, not to say lucrative. Graffalo’s dam, Cornish Queen, is by the two-star eventer Rock King, by the prolific sire of eventers, Just A Monarch xx, and out of the four-star eventer, Cornish Faer by another pioneer eventing stallion, Ben Faerie xx.

Lordships Graffalo

Our top ten is rounded out by five very nice horses, but none to them bred with eventing in mind, they are: Contendro I (Contender / Reichsgraf), Kannan (Voltaire / Nimmerdor), Diacontinus (Diarado / Contendro I), Vigo d’Arsouilles (Nabab de Rêve / Fleuri du Manoir) and finally Sligo Candy Boy (Balou du Rouet / Conley 2).