Ragazzo Passed Away

Breeding

Hanoverian Breeding News

The Hanoverian licensed stallion Ragazzo passed away on 16 April 2014, one week after his 24th birthday. The stallion resided in Great Britian in the care of Lotta Sörtoft for the past eight years.

Ragazzo was born in 1990 and was sired by Raphael out of renowned brood mare Pirola (by Pik König x Frustra II x Domspatz). He was bred by Guenter Pape and owned by Gestut St. Ludwig, Flyinge and Hartpury College.

Ragazzo was first licensed in November 1992 with the ZfDP studbook. In 1994 he was first approved by the Hanoverian and Rhinelander society.

The dark bay colt did his stallion performance test in Neustadt/Dosse in 1994 and became the winner with an index of 129,34 points. He finished second in dressage with 133.1 points and sixth in show jumping with 115.3 points.

Ragazzo was first competed in 1993 in the riding horse tests under Andreas Muller. In 1995 Heiko Munzmaier took over the ride and brought the dark bay stallion from A to Intermediaire I level. The pair did his last competition together in June 1999 at the regional show in Trierweiler.

In 2000 Ragazzo moved to Sweden and covered there for five years. In his first three years in Sweden (2000 - 2002), he covered a substantial amount of 348 mares. Hartpury College in Great Britain loaned the stallion from Flyinge in 2006 and acquired him in 2008.

"He turned out to be the absolute perfect stallion for the students as he certainly was a stallion and always showed off, but at the same time the kindest horse who always tried his best and had fantastic patience with students with less confidence," Sortoft told Eurodressage.

Ragazzo's most renowned dressage offspring are the Danish team horse Jonstrupgardens Raneur (Lisbet Seierskilde), Grand Prix horse Remondini (Christina Boos), FEI horse Barbados Melody (Pether Markne), and small tour horses Royal Flash (Rick Klaassen) and Rakino (Ninon Vandenabeele). Ragazzo also had a few offspring successful in the young horse classes including Frank Hubert's 2001 World Young Horse Championship bronze medal winning Rossini Grande and Peter de Mulder's 2003 WCYH ride Uno Ragazzo.

Ragazzo only sired one licensed son in Germany: the Zweibrucken approved Rubidoux (by Ragazzo x Caribo) and four State Premium Mares.

"He was a one in a million horse," Sörtoft told Eurodressage. "He was retired from breeding and his last foals was born 2012 in UK. His fertility dropped due to age, but he was acting the same way all to the end. Ragazzo was put to sleep after a recent injury in the stable. He could not get up on his own if he laid down. Ragazzo has served the humanity all his life and he deserved to be free. He died with his head in my arms and his mouth full of carrots."