Schatzmeister MZ OLD is the fourth placegetter in the 2026 R1 7yo class at the WBFSH behind winner Secret Agent with Charlotte Dujardin.
This has started a rumour that Secret / De Niro is an emerging successful nick in some of these top young horses.
Certainly both horses are out of De niro mares and De Niro can be seen here in the same formation, at 5 x 2 via two daughters.
Daughters of a sire are always good for sport performance and seem to carry special characteristics of their own. Yhey are always something to watch out for and build into pedigree designs.
Whether this is creating a nick with Secret is another question , and it would involve a serious study of Secrets best progeny to determine if this were the case. According to Horse Telex he has 26 PSG progeny so far, he is still a fairly young sire, but this is certainly enough progeny to warrant a future study.
Having De Niro on the dam side, is certainly one way to connect with Secret’s own pedigree ,and it is important with any stallion to find connections and join the dots as such to build genetic dominance to the point where it can be inherited and expressed in the foal or horse.
There are however other factors at play in these two pedigrees, and Schatzmeister is certainly bringing in different flavoured bloodlines on his dam side to Secret Agent.
Donnerhall is present in the same way at 6 x 5 x 7 through sons only which is counterbalanced by two daughters of different sire De Niro acting as a kind of remote sex balance.
Florencio is on the dam side here and he makes some very important connections with different elements of Secrets pedigree – remembering that all stallions have a throwback pattern and will have several different patterns they are searching for in the partners of their best progeny.
Secret has Absatz through sons only at 8 x 7 x 6 and De Niro adds in another Absatz son, sire of Akzent ii on the 5th, which is not desirable unless there are other counterbalancing factors. Weltmeyer here comes to the rescue with his Absatz daughter on the 7th, and this brings the entire line into a sex balance and enables any sex linked genes from the X chromosome to come into the mix.
Secret has Pik Bube i daughters at 6 x 7,and Florencio very importantly adds in a Pik Bube ii full brother on the 6th, also through a daughter line, creating another solid filly factor through daughters of a sire.
Weltmeyer is a useful addition to Secrets pedigree, as Secret has a Woermann daughter on his 6th generation which provides a sex balance to that line behind Weltmeyer on the 7th. It would also help to correct a sex balance in any mares that have World Cup duplications through sons only.
Furioso II, Mexico and three quarter brother Futuro are all present again at 8 x 8 x 9 x 6 x 6, with only one daughter line present through Sandro Hit on the 9th generation.
The other important sibling relationship is provided by Goldstern on the bottom dam line on the 6th generation. Whenever Goldstern and Donnerhall or Disput come together in pedigrees it brings full brother and sister Disput and Dichtermuse together, and these are present at 7 x 8 x 5 x 8. These siblings appear in many top horses.
So in terms of Secret and De Niro being a reliable nick, it is not as simple as that at this stage. It is certainly a useful way to connect to Secrets pedigree but as the pedigree of this horse and Secret Agent have shown, there are different ways to bring out the strength in the different elements of Secrets bloodlines, and this is just one way. The pedigree must be examined in its entirety, and this is a problem with nicks involving a sire and dam sire. Often the vital factor that makes the horse will be in the bottom quadrant of the pedigree and have absolutely nothing to do with what is considered the actual nick itself. Sometimes the bottom quarter, including the tail female line, is of great importance. However it is always a good thing to follow successful patterns that have worked in the past if breeders feel at a loss as how to proceed.
Schatzmeister is from a top dam line – the Elfenblume line which has created stallions and international Grand Prix horses and this is also something to take into consideration.
Again a very solid pedigree design for a talented horse to hopefully move forward up the grades from here.