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Photo © Digishots
A whopping amount of 95 dressage bred colts have been selected for the second phase of the 2024 KWPN Stallion Licensing which will take place in 's Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, on 1 - 4 February 2024.
The KWPN kicked off the pre-selection days in Ermelo on 13 December 2023 and lasted no less than six days as 247 colts were registered for this first phase.
The KWPN licensing committee this year consists of Bart Bax, Johan Hamminga and Wout Plaizier and they generously accepted a group of 95 colts for the next round.
Blue Hors Monte Carlo Offspring Stands Out
For the first phase popular sires Las Vegas and Jameson were the best represented with no less than 14 offspring entered for the first phase, but their get did not convince as well as some other sires.
Horses.nl covered the pre-selection in depth and made a striking analysis of the offspring.
Young Sire Monte Carlo Stands Out
Statistically the most successful sire of the first phase was Blue Hors Monte Carlo, who only sired five colts foals in 2021 that are KWPN registered as the stallion mainly stood up for stud in Denmark at his owner's place. Three of them were presented in the first phase and all three were accepted for the next round! Horses.nl praised the offspring for its movement and good connection from back to front.
(Interestingly in Denmark, Monte Carlo was bred to 118 mares in 2020, so foals born in 2021. At the Danish warmblood stallion pre-selection not a single Monte Carlo was presented!)
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Le Formidable presented his second crop of colt and only 2 of 9 presented move to the second phase. Horses.nl remarked that the offspring lacked connection in the topline. Bax stated that several lacked self carriage and did not have enough canter. On the hard surface some appeared to be downhill built. The one that stood out the best was renoir (by Le Formidable x Zack), while a second that passed was Ready to Rumble (by Le Formidable x Ampere), who finished third at the 2021 KWPN Foal Championship.
The other younger sires that presented their crops the statistics were as following: Merlot VDL (3 presented / 0 through to the next phase), Livius (2/0 through), Lennox U.S. (2/1 through), Mowgli V.O.D. (1/0 through), Bloomberg (1/1 through), Lord Romantic (1/1 through), Lowlands (1/0 through) and Mister Maserati (1/0 through).
Older Stallions
Offspring by older and foreign bred stallions were presented on the first few days of the pre-selection. According to Horses.nl the offspring that stood out the most was that of Lantanas and Kjento. Lantanas sired 32 colts in 2021, 4 were presented and three were selected for the second phase.
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The Helgtrand owned Oldenburg bred So Perfect had the most offspring through with five sons selected out of 10 presented, but there were no real standouts, most lacking self carriage. Bax said that he gave the offspring "the benefit of the doubt" which is why they selected five.
The Helgstrand owned KWPN bred and Westfalian licensed Dynamic Dream has been a very popular breeding stallion across Europe. For KWPN he saw just 2 of his offspring selected
Conclusion After First Phase
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made a big impression
"I think we will be heading to Den Bosch with a nice group," Bax concluded.
The complete list of colts for the second phase here.
Photos © Digishots
Related Links
Las Vegas and Jameson, Best Represented Sires at Pre-Selection for 2024 KWPN Stallion Licensing