Pedigree profile of Midas Touch Bolero

Betty, as she is known, has been on my radar since she was very young. Not only because she has always been strikingly beautiful, but because she is a granddaughter of one of my all-time favorite mares Greta.

Betty is by the stallion Midas touch Bacio, a Bay, KWPN Registered Stallion, who was imported as a young colt from the Netherlands. His pedigree boasts names of some of the world’s finest Dressage Horses.
BACIO is a highly admired young stallion, with eye catching presence, powerful movement, superb conformation and his most noteworthy quality is his superb temperament. BACIO combines all these remarkable qualities with proven performance bloodlines. He is by the Famous Dutch Licenced Breeding Stallion, Sandreo, out of a Zuidhorn/Nimmerdor mare, Leone.
Bacio is by the stallion Sandreo, a son of Sandro Hit (by Sandro Song), Sandreo is a very beautiful stallion with a lot of blood and presence. His sire Sandro Hit won several titles in Germany in the Bundeschampionat as well as being World Champion. Dam Prettify is a daughter of Flemmingh who was declared ‘keur’ on the grounds of the dressage ability of his progeny, including the Grand-Prix horses, Krack C and Lingh.

Sandreo has a very good trot with a beautiful foreleg technique, and an outstanding canter. Sandreo is a stallion whose pedigree lays the foundations for the breeding of top class dressage horses.

Sandreo won both the final and the total stallion competition in 2005 at Hertogenbosch with Hans Peter Minderhoud.

Betty’s dam was by the stallion Attila, who was approved in Hannover as well as competed himself at highest level. He sired many top horses in South Africa. He was by the stallion Akzent II, who is seen in the pedigrees of many successful warmblood horses. Akzent II was bred by Joachim Kemmer, father of German dressage team rider, Heike, and stood at the family stud, Amselhof, and then on lease at the Celle State stud in Altenbruch before coming to the Oldenburg stallion station of Ludwig Kathmann in 1985.

Akzent II was prized for carrying on the ‘type’ of the Trakehner Absatz: a noble head and appealing face, ideal neck and saddle position and a good shoulder, combined with soft-to-the-ground way of going. His dam was by the Thoroughbred, Waidmannsdank, who was one of the most influential Thoroughbreds of the post-war period in Hanover. He was for many years the leading Thoroughbred sire of licensed stallions and head stud book mares, and second only to Der Löwe as a Thoroughbred sire of competition horses.

Not surprisingly, Akzent II scored very highly for type and rideability. In the Hanoverian Stallion Yearbook of 2002 (the last in which he appears) he is scored 144 for type putting him into the top-ten category based on studbook inspections and 134 for rideability on the basis of the mare performance tests. His dressage score on the mare tests was only 112, still better than his jumping ranking of 101. His FN ranking was 116 for dressage and 100 for jumping.

By 2002 he had produced 747 competition horses with winnings of DM1,183,852. His most successful competitor was Amazonas, the winner of the German Dressage Derby with Karin Schlüter in 1987, with winnings of DM98,623, not far in front of Isabell Werth’s Agnelli FRH who won the Otto Lorke prize for Grand Prix horses under 10 years in 2000, and who by 2002 had won DM95,185.

Akzent II was the sire of eleven licensed sons.
Then we get to the old lady Greta, who had 20 foals in her lifetime. Greta was by the stallion Godewind. The Hanoverian stallion, Godewind,was licensed with three breed associations and had scores of 121+ at his performance testing. His offspring are known for their athletic ability and, in Germany, have proven themselves in the Grand Prix rings. He is a grandson of the immortal Gotthard and the important Sellhorn and Domspatz.

Gotthard is truly one of the greats. For seven years he was the leading sire of showjumpers in Germany and his influence continues to the present day. During his time he sired over 34 licensed stallion sons. Goldstern, Goldberg, Gardestern, Goldpilz, and Godehard were all influential.
Gotthard was also influential as a mare sire and he was responsible for 26 States Premium mares.

Gotthard was by Goldfisch II who was the sire of nine licensed stallion sons. Goldfisch II descends from the nineteenth century Thoroughbred sire, Goldschaum. Goldfisch II had a reputation for producing beautiful horses and good movers.

It was not until Gotthard’s daughter, Goldika (out of a Mecklenburg mare with no papers) started her sensational jumping career with Gert Wiltfang that the breeders found him so attractive. Eventually he was to produce over fifty horses to compete internationally and when in 1975, a list of top stallions was published, Gotthard was number one in terms of prize money won. Eventually his competing progeny numbered 398, with earnings of almost two million deutschmarks.

Greta’s damsire was Graphit, who was sired by Grande. Grande (Graf/SPS Duellfest/Duellant) stood at stud for a remarkable 25 years (1962-1987) and has left an indelible mark on the Hanoverian breed. Grande is ranked in the German Eternal Top 10 sire list. He was a very versatile sire, due in part to his own bloodlines: on the sire’s side the jumping influence of Graf and on the dam’s side the dressage influence of Duellant.
He sired more than 40 approved sons, the most famous of which are Garibaldi II, Graphit, Gralsritter and Glander who went on to be influential sires in their own right. Both Grande and his own offspring were noted for producing horses which excelled in dressage and show jumping. Grande’s line dominates the sport of dressage in Germany and abroad. He is the grandsire of several Olympic champions including Gifted, Grunox and Gigolo FRH.

One of the oldest, the G-line originated over 100 years ago with the Thoroughbred Stallion Goldschaum v. Flagcolet-Chamant. A review of this stallion line over time shows it is the backbone of solid, versatile, athletic horses produced through the state Stud. They are known for their desire and capacity to work. These horse have proven themselves to be among the most talented competition horses in the world.

Goldfisch II gave the line a difinitive stamp, producing 12 licensed sons, 20 States Premium mares, 183 registered mares and over 100 competition horses. His legacy was passed on through his immortal son Gotthard and grandson Grande. The sons and daughters of these stallions dominated world class competition in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. So successful and powerful is this line that after more than 60 years, there were 31 direct descendents standing at the state stud. This was 17.5% of the total stallions available, the greatest number for any line! The famous Grande, who was at stud for 25 years was noted for the performance success of his offspring. With Graf, by Goldfisch II from the jumping side and his Duellant mother, Grande combined the best in dressage and jumping bloodlines. Gotthard, in his time, was noted as the top sire of jumping champions. His noted sons include Fardestern, Gluckstern and Gluckspilz.

The G-Line is reknown as the most important and famous producer of international performance horses in the world both in dressage and jumping. In dressage, these horses are household names: Gifted, Grundstein, Grunox, Gigalo, Graf George, Girogione and Goldstern. Grand Prix and Olympic jumping champions include Gladstone, Everest, Gaylord, Genius, Grand Plaisir, Grandeur and Top Gun.

Three Grande sons achieved great fame as sires. Galsritter developed into a producer of jumpers of international class. Garibaldi II sired the U.S. dressage champion Gifted as well as many show jumpers and Graphit sired the well known dressage sires Grundstein I & II. Grundstein I competed very successfully at Grand Prix level and was the leading sire in the FN rankings among stallions in the top ten percent of their age group in both jumping and dressage from 1988-2000. Graphit also produced Grannus, a top jumping stallion with lifetime earnings of well over five million DM, who in turn produced seven Olympic hoses and more than 60 approved stallions including Graf Grannus, the 2004 Hanoverian Stallion of the Year.

This is truly a line to be preserved and nurtured.