The Hanoverian stallion Bon Coeur has been named "Challenger Stallion of the Year" by the Swedish warmblood society on 6 March 2024.
Every year Swedish warmblood proclaims a "Stallion of the Year" and this year it was Diarado for the second year in a row. At the same time SWB also names "runner-up" stallions in dressage and show jumping, who came close to the title. This runner-up title is also called the "challenger stallion of the year" and has been awarded for the 13th time.
" It aims to recognize stallions who have shown a promising start in their breeding career and whose offspring have shown talents to become successful sport horses," SWB communicated.
Bon Coeur
The black Bon Coeur is by Benetton Dream out of Sonnenschein (by Sandro Hit x Carismo x Don Juan) and bred by Birgit Tietjen.
Stallion keeper Eckhard Wahlers presented him in Verden where he was licensed as a premium stallion at the 2014 Hanoverian Stallion Licensing. He won his 30-day test in Schlieckau with a score of 9.1 for dressage and 6,98 for show jumping, totalling 8,29 points. He got 9.0 at his sport test in 2016 and 8,9 at the sport test in 2017.
Under Lena Berwe, he became Hanoverian and reserve Bundeschampion at the age of three, one year later he won the winner's ribbon at the Hanoverian Young Horse Championships with Christin Schütte and again silver in Warendorf. Jessica Lynn Thomas competed him at medium level in 2018 before he sold to Sweden to Lövsta Stutteri. Caroline Darcourt has been competing him at small tour level. Bon Coeur was the winner of the Weltmeyer prize in 2018 and the Grande Prize in 2023.
In Germany he has produced 30 licensed sons of which 14 are entered in Studbook I and 56 of his daughter are state premium mares. Bon Coeur's first crop of SWB offspring was born in 2016. Of 65 SWB offspring shown in young horse tests, 42 have received diplomas, eight have been shown at riding horse tests. At the 2023 SWB Equestrian Weeks, Bon Coeur had two offspring in the top 10 in the 3-year-old championship. His breeding index for dressage is 143 and he is awarded this year with the value letter A based on the good results of the SWB offspring.
Illustrious List
Previous winners of the challenger stallion title in dressage are:
2011 Bocelli (SWB)
2012 Santana
2013 Hermes (SWB)
2014 Dalwhinnie (SWB)
2015 Zuidenwind
2016 Skovens Rafael
2017 Quaterback
2018 Blue Hors Zack
2019 Johnson
2020 Sibelius (SWB)
2021 Total Hope
2022 Van Vivaldi
Criteria for this year's challenger stallions are:
- The stallion must have a Swedish studbook number
- The stallion must have at least 15 tested/competed offspring
- The stallion must compete himself/have competed successfully
- A stallion can only receive the award once
Related Links
Bon Coeur, Winner of the 2023 Grande Prize