Duke of Britain – Grand Prix dressage horse.
Born 2007, Duke of Britain was bred by Sarah Pigley and owned by Kasselman stud. He was ridden by Frederic Wandres.
He has an interesting pedigree and is from a top dam line – From Hanoverian family 57 – Klaseta. Other FEI horses from this mother line are Beltoni (Belissimo m), Pik Labionics, Al Capone (Argentinus), Bitcoin (Bordeaux), Big Easy (Bordeaux), Breitan(Pik Bube I) , Decarpentry (Don Primero, and Donnerklang.
His pedigree is Dimaggio / Rubinstein / Don Primero / Akzent II / Wendekreis.
It can clearly be seen that he is an inbred horse – 2 x 3 to very good stallion Don Primero sex balanced through a son and a daughter. He is also 6 x 6 to Lugano i through 2 daughter lines.
Pedigrees do not always have to be complicated – sometimes it can be as simple as sex balancing an important superior bloodline.
The 2 x 3 and 3 x 3 position have created many top competition horses – it is an inbred position for sure but sometimes this can be a good thing especially if the targets are sound, sane progenitors of sport talent.
Other horses with this pedigree position formation are:
Furstenball – 2 x 2 Donnerhall daughters
Baroncelli – 3 x 3 Pik Konig daughters
Capitano 3 x 2 Ramzes daughters
Loutano 1 x 3 Landgraf sex balanced.
Besandro Gold 3 x 2 Diamond Hit / Sandro Hit
Calido 3 x 3 Roman daughters
As pointed out by Rainer Walter on Facebook, this dam line is also the dam line of Grannus ; 6th dam Gitta is also the dam of important stallion Grannus.
Rainer points out “the right and appropriately combined Hanoverian genetics is the best foundation for the future. Breeding does not mean diluting and cross breeding. Here breeding begins – when combined on the mother side multiple times, it brings an unlikely amount of quality.”
If Duke of Britain was a stallion then putting him over mares by Grannus would highlight the meaning of this, bringing together two strains from the one fountain as such, which is the way to maximise athletic potential and the likelihood of mitochondrial DNA coming into play.