Harada Debuts Sir Galanto as 2022 World Championship Hopeful

Dressage

2022 CDN Wellington

Japanese Olympian Kiichi Harada has made his debut on a new horse, Sir Galanto, as his new 2022 World Championship hopeful.

Sir Galanto is a 17-year old Hanoverian gelding by Stedinger out of Die Galante (by De Niro x Gardeoffizier x Absatz). He is bred by Yvonne Bünger in Germany.

Licensed Stallion

The dark bay Sir Galanto was licensed as a 2.5 year old stallion at the Mecklenburger licensing in Redefin in November 2007.

He first stood up for stud at Gestut Ganschow, but did not get that many mares. 13 offspring are registered in Germany for sport and one of them is now at S-level (Silberglanz under Czech rider Libuse Mencke).

Sir Galanto did his 70-day stallion performance test in Schlieckau in the spring of 2009 and scored 115.74 for dressage (4th) and 104.61 for show jumping (13th) to finish on a total index of 112.67 points. He was 9th out of 30 participating stallions.

Sir Galanto was first competed as a 3-year old by Rene Mencke from 2008 through 2013. In 2014 Libuse Mencke took over and brought him to small tour level, showing him mainly in the Czech republic and at regional shows.

Sold to the USA

Sir Galanto sold to Terri Kane of Diamante Farms in the early spring of 2015 for daughter Devon to ride.

Devon made her show debut on Sir Galanto in Europe at the small tour level at the CDI Darmstadt in August 2015. In the spring of 2016 she did her first medium tour tests with him at the CDI Tryon and at the 2017 Global Dressage Festival in Wellington rode their first Grand Prix tests.

Devon competed Sir Galanto internationally exclusively in Wellington through 2019. Their last CDI was the 3* on 21 - 23 February 2019.

Sold to Japan

Sir Galanto was sent to Hubertus Schmidt's yard in Germany in the late spring of 2020, where Katharina Hemmer took on the ride and competed hom through the summer in Inter II and Grand Prix classes at regional shows. Their last competition was in August 2020.

In the summer of 2021 Chiemi Katayama purchased Sir Galanto and allocated the ride to Japanese 2016 Olympic team rider Kiichi Harada.

Harada and Egistar at the 2020 CDI Wellington

Harada, who joined trainer Christoph Koschel in Wellington this season, made his CDI show debut on Sir Galanto on Friday 11 February 2022 in th 4* Grand Prix, but the pair struggled and posted 56.978% for a 12th place.

Two days later they had a rematch in the national Grand Prix and found their stride with a 70.543% score and third place.

Harada is the 2021 Japanese Grand Prix Champion, which he won with the 18-year old AES registered Fairytale S. He was member of the Japanese team at the 2016 Olympics, after claiming his first national title in 2015. He has been a major player at Grand Prix level in Japan with several horses, including the now 20-year old 19-year old KWPN gelding Egistar (by Cabochon x Kaiserstern xx), which he took to Wellington to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Games. The Olympics were postponed and Harada did not show internationally in 2021.