The Swedish warmblood stallion Springbank II VH has been named "Challenger Stallion of the Year" 2024 by the Swedish warmblood society on 31 January 2025.
"Challenger Award"
For the fourteenth year Swedish Warmblood hands out the "Challenger Stallion of the Year" award to a jumping and a dressage stallion.
The award recognises stallions that have shown a promising start in their breeding careers and whose offspring have shown talent to become successful sport horses.
This year's recipients of the award are dressage stallion Springbank II VH and jumper Point Break.
Springbank II VH
Springbank II VH (by Skovens Rafael x De Niro x Rohdiamant) was first approved in Denmark in 2017 and won the Danish 35-day performance test with 954.5 points. A year later he was crowned Danish Champion Stallion as a four-year-old.
In Sweden he won the Breeders Trophy as a four- and six-year-old, and at age 7 won the seven-year-old championship. Additionally, he has competed in the World Young Horse Championships as a five- and six-year-old and now has international 5* Grand Prix merits under his current owner, Yara Reichert.
His oldest offspring are born in 2018 with 110 SWB-registered foals, 95 of which were born between 2018-2021. Among 46 tested offspring, 25 received diplomas (54%).
His sons Droom’s Oleander and Scarabus VH are licensed after the stallion performance test, while others, such as Åtoftens Springtime and Sénégal de Fontaine, have been approved abroad and contribute to Swedish breeding. His daughter, Spumante VH (SWB), won the National Mare Championship in 2022, with several other offspring excelling in young horse championships. Springbank II VH has a dressage breeding index of 156 and was awarded an A-status for offspring performance in 2023.
Previous Winners
previous award recipients are:
- 2011 Bocelli (SWB) 1044
2012 Santana 1111
2013 Hermes (SWB) 1086
2014 Dalwhinnie (SWB) 1180
2015 Zuidenwind 1187
2016 Skovens Rafael 1337
2017 Quaterback 95235
2018 Blue Hors Zack 95316
2019 Johnson 95254
2020 Sibelius (SWB) 1315
2021 Total Hope 1307
2022 Van Vivaldi 1286
2023 Bon Coeur 1357
2024 Springbank II VH (SWB) 9272
Related Links
Bon Coeur Named Swedish Warmblood "Challenger Stallion of the Year" 2023