It doesn't happen every day that a non-German stallion sires the German Foal Champion of the year. This year it did. At the 2004 German Foal Championship in Lienen, near Munster, Germany, a Cornet Obolensky x Lancer III colt became the Grand Champion of the show.
Bred by Hans Jurgen Witte from Bad Sassendorf, the Cornet Obolensky colt was out of Verona Feldbusch (Lancer III x Weinberg). Sire Cornet Obolensky is one of the biggest breeding revellations in Germany the past two years. Bred in Belgium and registered as a Belgian warmblood, Cornet Obolensky is by Clinton, a Holsteiner sire who will be competing at the 2004 Olympic Games for the Belgian Show Jumping team. Cornet Obolensky is out of Rabanna van het Costersveld (Heartbreaker x Randel Z) and was presented at stallion shows in Germany this year by Ludger Beerbaum. The dapple grey sire is up for stud at Gestut Ligges. Legendary show jumping mare Ratina Z is being bred to Cornet this year.
Winning the filly class at the 2004 German Foal Championship was a Stedinger x Akzent II filly bred by Peter Hermann from Winsen, Germany. Placing second in the colt class was another dressage bred foal, a Furst Heinrich x Alabaster colt bred by Elisabeth Albers from Löningen. In the filly rankings, Lothar Lige's Sir Oldenburg x Lique de Bruyere filly placed second.
Twenty-two foals qualified for the final round and five of them were sired by Sandro Hit. One foal was in the winner's circle was sired by the 2004 World Young Horse Champion Florencio. Evelyn Gutmann of Gestut Bonhomme bred this Florencio filly out of St Pr. St Leandra (by Lafitte). The foal placed sixth at the Championships and is owned by Carol DiMaggio of Bright Future Farms in California, a stable that is specialized in breeding Arabians.
Image of stallion Stedinger © Astrid Appels - No Reproduction Allowed!