Gangster Mondesir, 5* Grand Prix Jumper with Richard Vogel, is a Selle Francais stallion born in 2016 and bred by Haras Montdesir.
This horse looks to be Richard Vogel’s new star jumper, and along with United Touch, it is a stable of horses that most jump riders can only dream about.
Vogel has been in partnership with Gangster for the last year only and said that at 10 years old, he is still very green at this level, but is very game and wants to please. He has already won several 5* Grand Prix competitions, with three in a single calendar year, making him only the second horse to achieve this, after Explosion W.
Pedigree is Kannan / Cornet Obolensky / Poor Boy/ Narcos II / Uriel.
His pedigree will be presented followed by his dams six generation chart so some of the patterns can be more easily observed.
The sire is Kannan, and it is interesting to see some of the ways that his pedigree works with the dam lines in his top progeny.
Kannan has something of a difficult pedigree himself – he is 3 x 4 to full brothers Furioso II and Mexico, but these are coming in via his sons – Voltaire and Le Mexico. Bloodlines that are duplicated by sons only are generally not ideal in either top sport and particularly not in breeding stock – UNLESS there are counterbalancing factors elsewhere in the pedigree.
Kathleen Kirsan states that bloodlines appearing through their sons only “chokes the transmission of sport ability”.
Sons of a sire are missing out on the X chromosome provided by daughters of that bloodline, or the same from a full or half sister, and therefore do not deliver such a complete DNA profile. It is a pattern not often seen in top horses which tend to display more balance and flow in the way their bloodlines are structured.
However no one is disputing the success and the production record of Kannan himself. It is simply a question of asking what is working with his pedigree and how it interacts with those of his mates in his top progeny. Kannan jumped to 1.60 himself,, and is listed as having around 7000 progeny, with something like 228 – 1.60 jumpers, 430 – 1.50 jumpers, and 200 licensed sons.
This is getting close to a 10% success rate of top progeny, which very few stallions reach, and a study of these top progeny would certainly reveal what bloodlines he is looking for in his mates. That would be a massive undertaking and perhaps one for the future.
Back to Gangster’s pedigree structure – he does have the brothers Furioso II and Mexico at 2 x 4 in his own pedigree and this is an inbred position which carries a lot of weight on its own. The brothers are sitting in the prime position to transmit their sport talents, even without the daughter line present, but there should still be some counterbalancing factors present to work with the sire over sire factor. It is perhaps true that some rare stallions are able to work sire over sire in pedigrees, but usually those have female elements with many filly factors – such as daughters of a sire or son and daughter of a mare, or they are present within a pattern along with other horses in the pedigree. It is possible that Furioso II and Mexico are stallions that can work through son over son. It is certainly true that they appear in KWPN dressage horses all the time in the same manner, but these are almost always accompanied by daughters of the sire Pericles xx and often with daughters of Amor or Farn.
This pattern is observed in certain bloodlines, where sons of one sire are present along with daughters of a different sire, and this has proven to be an effective counterbalancing method to the all male factor. The daughters act as a type of remote sex balance to offset the sons, and this pattern is observed often enough in top horses for this to be a successful compromise.
With Gangster being a Selle Francais product, it is likely that he will have at least one line of Furioso xx – sire of Furioso II and Mexico – through a daughter, and as it turns out he does have one of these – the mare Ma Pomme on the dam line of Fair Play III on the 6th generation, which provides the necessary sex balance of this line, and is the next best thing to having an actual Furioso II or Mexico daughter.
It would not be at all surprising to find that many of Kannans top progeny have a Furioso xx daughter or two on their dam side to counterbalance the effect of the sons.
The Furioso xx daughter is crucial here, as the sire of the brothers, and it reinforces and balances the all male factor. It also helps to give further strength to the brothers by reinforcing their grandparent elsewhere in the pedigree. Top horses will often show this pattern – that a grandparent behind an inbreeding will be represented elsewhere in the pedigree through a horse of the opposite sex. In this case Furioso xx – sire of the brothers, appears elsewhere through a daughter line.
The Furioso daughter here re-unites any sex linked genes on the X chromosome, and allows the channels in this bloodline to flow in full power to benefit any progeny – in this case Gangster.
There are many other points of interest and connections to Kannan’s pedigree from the dam line.
These factors are not there by accident, nor are they random. All stallions have what is called throwback patterns, (Clive Harper), which are bloodlines that return in certain ways in their best progeny. These patterns are amazingly consistent and regular if you know how to look for them. Looking at the top progeny of a stallion will often reveal certain dam sires that keep showing up over and over. Of course this does not give you the full picture in the pedigree, and does leave out the all important bottom quadrant, but it is a start to recognising patterns and nicks.
Photo – Le Mexico
Another important connection between Kannan and the dam is Nimmerdor at 3 x 4, sex balanced, backed up by his sire Farn at 4 x 5 x 6 also sex balanced, with the daughter line provided by Cornet Obolensky. This is another example of a grandparent behind the inbreeding (to Nimmerdor) appearing elsewhere in the pedigree through a horse of the opposite sex – the Farn daughter in Cornet.
Photo – Nimmerdor
Gotthard is represented both sides at 4 x 8 through two daughter lines. Gotthard was never impressive in his phenotype and was considered lucky to be approved into the Celle stud as a breeding stallion. This is not an uncommon story for many stallions that later prove themselves through the success of their progeny, and it is a lesson for all breeders – that phenotypes can indeed be deceptive. Gotthard proved to be a phenomenal sire, and went on to form important nicks with stallions such as Alme, Furioso xx, Grannus, and Stakkato.
Photo – Gotthard as a 3 yo
Gangsters dam Doha Du Ter is a very powerful mare in her own right and much of the power in this champion horse is coming from his dam line, which happens to be the same dam line that produced Dynamix De Belheme . As seen in her chart above, she is linebred tail female to the mare Vestale De Bois Margot. These horses are from the Concurrente Du Bois Margot dam line.
Vestale De Bois Margot is present via her two daughters – Nadine and Quenotte – on her chart at 5 x 5, with Nadine on the tail dam line. This is right in the engine room of the pedigree and is a prime spot for athletic and sport talent to be passed on.
Quenotte is not just any mare – she is the dam of legendary sire Cor De La Bryere, and this is a very rare duplication at 5 x 5, where she is seen with not just one, but two sisters from the same mare line.
With one sister residing on the tail female line, the blood of these important mares is further concentrated in Gangster and in the most powerful way. Not only would he have received the superior mitochondrial DNA from his mare line, but with various representatives of the same line also being present, it multiplies their effect even further, and increases their predictability as well as reinforcing their desirable traits. It boosts the chance that Gangster will have inherited a triple dose of this genetic material, and shows that the nuclear DNA (from both parents) works well with their shared mitochondrial DNA haplotype, leading to a far fuller DNA profile.
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With Cor de la Bryere being such a force in jump breeding, along with some of the amazing horses being produced from this dam line, like Gangster and Dynamix , the mitochondrial DNA from this line must have been considerable as well as superior in nature. Cor de has certainly been a breed shaper over the generations, and he has been a sire that is capable of leaving a dynasty of stallion sons.
The Cor de female family dam line is further reinforced yet again in Gangster by the sire Fair Play III on the 5th generation of the dam, who is also from the Concurrente Du Bois Margot dam line. Fair Play III is out of legendary mare Ma Pomme, who is full sister to the 1966 World Champion mare Pomone B, and who left a tribe of important daughters which produced many 1.60 jumpers. Fair Play III meets up with the mares Nadine and Quenotte – all on the 5th generation of the dam, and connects to another branch of this line with Cor De La Bryere being present on the 6th as well.
Fair Play III, Cor de, Vestale Du Bois Margot and Nadine all descend in tail female to the mare Concurrent Du Bois Margot. They are fruits from the same tree. Some of this can seen on the pedigree charts above, but the end result is that four horses all descend from the one tap root mare in the engine room of the pedigree.
Having a tap root mare represented by four different progeny lines in the one pedigree is rare, especially in warmbloods which are hybrids comprised of many different breeds. This is one of more potent pedigree configurations of all and Gangster is the fortunate recipient of this genetic bounty. Wherever you see a mare represented by even two of her progeny in the engine room of a pedigree, this is usually sufficient for a successful outcome in sport, given the correct environment of course.
This female family is large and has produced many top jumping horses and stallions, too many to list here. It dates back many years ; Cor De La Bryere was born in 1968, Fair play in 1971 and Nadine in 1957. Female families can lapse into obscurity for several generations and all it takes to revive them is a new individual from the line appearing in the pedigree of a champion, and hopefully a mare or stallion. If the champion is a mare, they are still carrying all the mitochondrial DNA which passes down through the generations unchanged – it does not undergo the process of recombination like nuclear DNA from both parents which is reshuffled at each generation. (Stallions cannot pass on Mitochondrial DNA but they can receive it from their mothers).
Stallions can produce hundreds of progeny, and mares in the past were lucky to have 5 to 10 foals in their entire lifetime. Everyone applauds and gushes over the very few champion progeny of a stallion, but in comparison, a top mare’s production record is very small, and far more remarkable. If a female family is regularly producing champions over many generations, they are doing it from a very small number of prospective opportunities.
A top stallion can barely produce 10% of champions from his total foal crop, while some of these female families will regularly out produce this success rate, and do it from a relatively small amount of chances. It cannot really be attributed to luck, clearly some force we perhaps do not fully understand is at work.
Does the mitochondrial DNA account for the strength in certain female families? It only passes on the tail female dam line to the progeny, it never comes from the stallion, only the mare. It is the only true biological difference to the pathways in the rest of the pedigree, and is possibly the only explanation for the success in certain mare lines. We still have much to learn about haplotypes for sport breeding and their combination with nuclear DNA inherited from both parents, but it is a compelling argument.
Why is it that some mare families never produce anything of note , or they will produce maybe one or two champions and peter out, but others are able to produce more consistently from a variety of stallions? Elite mare families are able to produce champions over many generations and survive generational lapses in between. They have ongoing success through their daughters, which often become broodmares who are capable of upgrading stallions, and they consistently appear in the pedigrees of elite horses.
Even with a top mare family the production rate of champions can seem low, due to the random nature of genetic inheritance. Mares also have to work with the stallion choices made by breeders, many of which are incompatible in terms of upgrading what the mare really needs in terms of her genetics, her conformation, temperament, soundness and other phenotypical characteristics.
The pedigree structure of top horses will often have discernable patterns, with important ancestors duplicated and structured in certain ways where their sport talent can be passed on to the progeny. Just because an ancestor appears twice in a pedigree does not mean that it is an effective linebreeding. Ancestors have to appear in certain ways and through certain pathways for their sport abilities to have any chance of being inherited by the foal. Top horses generally have a balance and flow throughout, with genetic affinities and nicks present and female families reinforced in an effective manner, and Dynamix and Gangster are both examples of this.
Imagine the possible results if genetically compatible matings were carried out at each generation. The chances of a horse inheriting the superior dominant genotype increases exponentially when there is a base female family motor with superior Mitochondrial DNA , and a stallion choice with proper genetic affinities – then you may get a Gangster or a Dynamix as a result.
For different branches of this mare line to still be producing horses as special as Dynamix and Gangster after all these years is remarkable. The sons of Cor de are still powering along and dominating pedigrees everywhere, with the odd daughter line appearing, but he is not often seen partnered with his siblings, as in Gangsters pedigree. All it takes to revive any family is to bring in new individuals that are bred from this same line, and combine them in interesting ways in the same pedigree. Or find a stallion who carries a sister from the same line, such as Fair Play III, and watch the line come back into action again with new champions coming through.
There are many many 1.60m jumpers in the world, but it is not only the competition record of Dynamix and Gangster that stands out, it is the comments made about these horses by their riders, breeders and owners.
Richard Vogel, has been quoted in different articles and websites as saying that Gangster is incredible at every competition with at least one win, and that he is very game and wants to win, with very strong mental focus.
Dynamix has received glowing comments from her owners, breeders and riders, as to how the jumping is so easy for her, and she has such natural talent that she just took to the sport without having to learn. Apparently even as a foal she was head and shoulders above the rest, and like Gangster, is very sure of herself with a strong desire to please and do well, with alot of mental focus. See article on Dynamix for more information.
It could be that these horses are the recipients of a superior dose of MtDNA, and are displaying the vitality and talent that can be bestowed on certain individuals from these bloodlines.
1.60m jumper from this same line – Nino Des Buissonets – was also said to have high energy and the fighting spirit to become a top horse. Nino is actually tail female at 3 x 4 to a son and daughter of mare Ma Pomme – Fair Play III and Dans Le Vent, which further concentrates the genetics of Ma Pomme and this female line on his dam side.
Pedigree chart of Nino Des Buissonnetts
Another horse from this same line – Starlette B – was said by her rider Jean Brohier, to be “a dream to ride, the best horse I ever rode.”
World Champion in 1966 Pomone B was known for her legendary braveness. Pomone B is a full brother to Ma Pomme who is instrumental in Gangster’s pedigree.
There are of course other factors operating in Gangsters pedigree. His dam Doha Du Ter is 6 x 6 to Alme and Quastor, three quarter brothers from the mare Girondine, and by Ibrahim, and this is a nick we have spoken much about lately ; see article on Quidam / Diamant nick. This is further contributing to the strength of her producing power, which is already considerable.
The important part of this story is this unique and enduring dam line which is still producing some extraordinary horses after so many decades. Gangster is tail female to mare Vestale Du Bois Margot who is at 5 x 5 via two of her progeny, Nadine and Quenotte, the dam of Cor de la Bryere, along with the reinforcing line of Fair Play III.
Whenever this type of pattern is noted, breeders should be paying attention to what is actually driving the power in the horse. These pedigrees are giving us road maps to produce horses capable of competing at top sport, given the correct environment of owner, rider, training, functional conformation, soundness and mental fortitude. Mitochondrial DNA from some of these top lines has been seen to pass on a special vitality and energy which could possibly be contributing to the exceptional athleticism and mental focus these horses are showing.
Sources
Kathleen Kirsan
Clive Harper
Ken McLean
Lonestar Pedigrees
Copyright. 2026 Paula Mcrae