APH Sodoku

APH Sodoku is on the 2026 Australian eventing team at the FEI World Championships in Aachen. He is ridden by Olivia Barton.

Sodoku is another ‘ home bred’ Australian horse. He was bred by APH stud which was founded by Walter and Libby Sauer in the 1980’s, and they focused on importing top quality Holsteiner and Trakehner stallions as well as breeding their own stallions, such as APH Rocardo who is the sire of Sodoku.

The six generation pedigree chart does not show all the important duplications in this horse, and the longer chart can be viewed on the All Breed Pedigree site.

Pedigree – APH Rocardo / Coriandus / APH Hirte / Rocadero.

Rocadero can be seen at 2 x 4 sex balanced both sides of his pedigree.
Ladykiller is at 5 x 6 x 6 and one of these lines is the all important daughter line provided surprisingly by sire Rocardo. This sex balances the bloodline which opens up the full power and flow, by capturing any sex linked traits from both the male and female ancestors ,and re – uniting the X and Y chromosomes to create a fuller DNA profile of the line.

Ramiro is present at 4 x 6 x 6 x 6 via sons only, which “chokes the transmission of sport ability” (Kathleen Kirsan), but there are counterbalancing factors with his dam line. The grand dam is very important mare Holle, and she is also represented by her son Mandarin. She is present via her son and daughter – Mandarin and Valine, dam of Ramiro, at 5 x 6 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 8. A son and daughter of a mare, as seen here, is a filly factor and will balance the Ramiro male overload.

Pedigrees with sons and daughters of a mare are alot more powerful than those with a son and daughter of a sire, especially when the mare line – the dam line of Holle – is clearly carrying superior mitochondrial DNA and sex linked genes on the X chromosome.

APH Sodoku also has some very important mare families in his pedigree which are no doubt contributing to his considerable sport ability.

The most important element is elite Holstein mare Dorette from line 18 B1, and her presence with two of her different progeny in this pedigree – her daughters Adrette and Ella who are coming in through the stallions Ronald and Constant.

Dorette is grand dam of these two sires and her daughters appear at 4 x 6 x 6 in this powerful position in the engine room, and in the prime spot for her elite characteristics and traits to be transmitted to the progeny, in this case Sodoku.

Mares like Dorette do not come along very often; mares who can produce multiple stallion sons and pass these qualities onto their daughters who can do the same, are extremely rare. Dorette and her daughters are responsible for creating more than 20 licensed sons and countless 1.60m jumpers and grand prix dressage horses. 

Photo: Dorette

Dorette herself produced the stallions Farn, Roman and Fax 1, and elite daughters such as Ella and Adrette who were the dams of Ronald, Constant and Toborzo. This mare obviously had that very rare genotype that is able to influence and shape a breed for generations. When her different progeny come together in a pedigree sit up and pay strict attention, because it will be the power centre in the horse and in the right hands it is a recipe for success.

Photo: Farn

‘It is the mare that makes the stallion and not the other way around.” Madam Vuillier.

Mares have so few progeny and so the dam of a stallion is extremely important. She has to disseminate her genetics and her X chromosome through the progeny of her sons, and that is how top mares exert their main influence, rather than just relying on having one foal at a time or 10 in a lifetime. Through their stallion sons, their elite genetics can reach a large volume of progeny. This is why stallions have such an affinity for their own female line and how the saying “return to the sire the best blood of his dam” came about.

There are many top horses in dressage and jumping linebred to different progeny of Dorette. One of the world’s best dressage horses, Wendy de Fontaine, is one of them – she has five different progeny lines of Dorette. Stallion Sezuan has several progeny lines of Dorette. He brought in two other daughters – Metta, dam of sire Flax, and Novelle, third dam of stallion Lionel which are very rarely seen.

Some examples of successful horses with two or more progeny of Dorette in their pedigree are –

GP mare Wendy De Fontaine has Farn, Metta, Novelle, Roman at 6 x 8 x 8 x 8 x 7 x 8 x 7 x 7
GP mare Jewels Goldstrike has Farn and Roman at 7 x 7.
GP stallion Sezuan with Farn, Metta, Novelle and Roman at 5 x 7 x 7 x 6 x 7
Great Blue by Plot Blue with Adrette and Farn at 5 x 6
Stallion Hickstead White has Farn and Roman at 4 x 6 x 6.
Stallion Quality by Quinar, has a dam who is is tail female to Dorette with Adrette and Metta at 6 x 5 x 4
Stallion Amidou has Adrette and Roman at 4 x 7
Landon 1.60 showjumper has Farn and Roman at 7 x 8 x 6 x 7
Australian showjumper Handsome has Farn and Ella at 4 x 5
Yalambis Fair Diamond is linebred to Farn and Roman at 5 x 4
Eventer Hicks de Lyse – Farn and Roman at 5 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 8
Stallion Hattrick is 3 x 3 to Nimmerdor by Farn and Ronald out of Adrette.
Nijinski 1.60 jumper has Libero H and Adrette at 4 x 3
Sunday VDL is tail female to Dorette as the 5th dam with Flax on the 5th.
Rythm GP horse has Farn and Roman at 3 x 5 x 6
Romanov 1.60 jumper has Farn and Roman at 6 x 6 x 5
Lionell, stallion, his tail female to Dorette daughters Metta and Novelle at 4 x 3
Bibenbreaker has Farn and Ronald at 3 x 5 x 5
Sweetheart 1.60m jumper is 3 x 4 to Farn and Roman
Warrant, 1.60 jumper Adrette and Farn at 5 x 3 x 5

This is far from an exhaustive list of successful horses from these crosses.

These horses are not just a happy accident. It can take years and many incompatible matings later for the progeny of Dorette to finally come together in the pedigree of one horse, especially where matings are randomly chosen or are fashion based. But when they do meet up, their effect is multiplied and the talent in the line, along with all the valuable DNA, is unleashed. Look at what five different progeny lines of Dorette ( with 8 duplications in total ) did for Queens Park Wendy, one of the best dressage horses ever. Even one instance of sisters or half brothers from Dorette in a pedigree is sufficient for a champion to come about given the right environment.

Matings like this do not have to be rare, they can be actually planned for and stallions chosen accordingly. Of course the horse then has to meet the right rider and the right team to produce them ; the environment has to be favorable for top sport and they have to stay sound and have a rideable temperament. But if the genetic blueprint is laid with the same successful structures and patterns seen in the worlds top horses, and pivotal mare families are built into pedigrees, this is giving the horse the best chance to succeed from the very beginning before it even hits the ground.

Another critical influence in APH Sodoku is Calypso II’s dam Tabelle – being present with her full sister Salmei at 6 x 7, who also appears as dam of stallion Flamberg. Salmei is not often seen, and certainly her sister Tibris has been more influential.

Tabelle is another mare who left a dynasty of highly influential progeny .

Mares that can leave both stallion sons and influential daughters, whose influence is felt for generations, are extremely rare.

Tabelle is the dam of the five stallion full brothers, Calypso I. II, III. IV, and V – three of whom jumped to 1.50m.

It is highly unique to have this many full brothers that are successful in sport, because siblings can often be very disappointing, especially siblings to a champion horse, and many people have lost money this way thinking otherwise.

Full sister Samei is grand dam of sire Calgary GNZ (Caletto I) and dam of Flamberg (Fanfar) as well as GP dressage horse Granat (Consul).

Tabelle’s daughter Tibris was dam of GP horse Legendaer, 4 star horse Castelan, PSG horse Christoff, grand dam of Cassalando (Cassal) and grandam of Askari – 1.60 jumper and stallion.

Stallion Askari, out of mare Elypse below. Askari is in fact 3 x 2 to full brother and sister Calypso I and Tibris. Tibris, daughter of Tabelle, is on the tail female line and from this position, is able to transit the superior mitochondrial DNA from this dam line.

Mares with this type of influence have the genotype to be highly influential, and are carrying superior mitochondrial DNA and sex linked genes on their X chromosome.

APH Sodoku is lucky to have these two mare families influencing his sport ability. It is no wonder that that he had the talent to make it to the top of the eventing sport with these great matriarchs influencing his genotype.

He also has important Thoroughbred bloodlines of the sport brothers Pharos and Fairway, as well as Anblick, Cottage Son and Ladykiller driving his athleticism.

Breeder takeaway
APH Sodoku is a great example of how bringing together different progeny of great mares in pedigree designs is a good way of increasing the likelihood of breeding champion horses. Females have a far wider effect on the athleticism and sport talent of their progeny due to the unique factors of the X chromosome and mitochondrial DNA. The Calypso II family and the Dorette family have certainly proven their worth at the top of the sport on the world stage, and with some research into stallion pedigrees they can be found in the pedigrees of stallions with semen available today.