Spectre D is an Australian stallion bred by Shane Davidson of Davidson Equine, and came to my attention from a facebook post where Shane made the comment “ there are moments that remind you why all the hard work is worth it.”
All breeders know what this means, and exactly what has gone in to producing a horse like this.
Spectre D is a home bred horse, and had just had his first start at a World Cup event.
This is not just a random good luck story. His pedigree is a blueprint for how successful horses can be planned for and bred up through the generations. It illustrates how to select stallions which build on each others genetic strengths at each generation, and how to unite important female families in pedigrees, as well as combining nicks and genetic affinities which are commonly seen in the progeny of top stallions.
Technically, a home bred horse in Australia is one whose dam line was initially started with a TB dam line many years ago and bred up, adding in generations through imported stallions and their home bred sons, and then adding frozen semen from European stallions on top.
In the purest sense it does not mean a horse bred from a mare imported from Germany, or a horse that was imported as a competition horse that is suddenly touted as “ an Australian champion” success story.
It is wonderful to see a horse that was bred by a small private breeder succeed with his own mare lines. It is getting harder by the day for small private breeders to make a go of it, who lack the funds for a herd of imported mares.
Spectre D was born in 2016 and bred using the mares that Shane’s father Russell had established during the years at Fairbanks Stud. His dam line was built up from the original Thoroughbred mare Cranda Boulevard.
Spectre D is by top sire Stakkato, but the rest of his dam line is not at all fashionable or littered with famous names. His dam is by Le Primeur / Just De Pomme / Cavallo K/ thoroughbred – many breeders will not be familiar with these names. Le Primeur is a very solid Hanoverian sire at the Celle Stud. Just de Pomme – by Jus De Pomme – was imported to Australia years ago and is very difficult to find progeny from. Cavallo K was one of the first stallions imported by Ulrich Klatte who established Belcam stud here in Australia.
The 4th dam Cranda Boulevard is pure Thoroughbred.
This was a common scenario for breeders who started in the 1980’s and early 90’s. There were only a handful of warmblood stallions standing at stud, who had been imported to Australia, and they were bred to Thoroughbred mares, producing many half bred sires which were enthusiastically utilised. This is back when breeders were happy to use this type of stallion, and buyers were happy to pay good money for the progeny. The generations of European blood were built on top of the original TB mares.
It would have taken at least 12 years to breed up Spectre D’s dam Fairbanks Lulu, who was also a World Cup jumper.
We may not have had top warmblood stallions on tap back then, but good Thoroughbred mares were something we did have – big rangy mares, with classic riding horse types , good shoulders and neck sets with an uphill top line. Many of these mares had New Zealand staying bloodlines, such as Sir Tristram and Sir Ivor. The blood of top jump sires Precipitation (Furioso line) and Blue Peter (Ladykiller line) came into Australia via NZ, through their sons, Summertime, Agricola, Supreme Court, Messmate and Masthead.
It is no accident that Australia led the way in eventing at the Olympics for decades, because they were mounted on Thoroughbreds with these superior genotypes.
Spectre D’s 4th dam was one of these quality Thoroughbreds, rich in the blood of the top progenitors of superior jumping talent.
Spectre D’s dam Fairbanks Lulu was by Le Primeur, a Celle stud stallion who is only listed as having around 300 progeny. For a stallion with such a useful pedigree he was very under utilised by breeders. He jumped to 1.50 himself, and produced 20 horses that jumped from 1.40 – 1.60m as well as 6 FEI dressage horses.
Le Primeur’s pedigree connects to and reinforces many of the important ancestors in Stakkato. Through his sire Laptop he adds a full sister to an important mare in Stakkato , as well as extra duplications of Absatz, Grande, Marcio and Duellant, who are repeatedly seen to return in Stakkato’s top progeny.
Second dam sire Just De Pomme was imported to Australia and was in fact a Prix St George dressage stallion with Dirk Dikjstra.
Just De Pomme was by excellent sire Jus De Pomme and out of a Dutch mare – Wellington / Erdball xx / Waldo.
He had very few progeny, and the truth is we just did not have the mare base in Australia at that time for him to succeed at stud- with no Selle Francais, Dutch or heavy Gelder blood in the mare population to connect to his pedigree.
Third dam sire Cavallo was by Contender / Barsoi xx / Duellgraf.
This was most likely the first taste Australia had of Contender blood.
Duellant Blood Importance
The Duellgraf second dam sire in Cavallo is very important here in the combination with Stakkato.
Duellgraf is by Duellant and out of a ¾ sister to Grande – ( Graf / Duellant ), and this line is still cropping up everywhere in top horses of today. Grande and Duellant were born in the 1940’s and 50’s, and it may seem unusual to be commenting on this, but so many horses are still powered by these bloodlines today. It has been a surprising learning curve and is certainly something to ponder as to its continuing power and influence in top horses of today.
Stakkato himself has four three-quarter siblings to Duellant – Dolmade, Dominant x 2, and Dortmund at 6 x 5 x 8 x 6.
Fairbanks Lulu has 5 crosses of Duellant from the 7th to the 9th, as well as brother Dollart on the 8th. She has Grande twice in her pedigree bringing in two more Duellant crosses.
Le Primeur brings Garibaldi ii who is Grande / Duellant with Duellant as second dam sire again.
These closely related siblings in the 5th and 6th generation in Stakkato are in the engine room of the pedigree, and they act as conduits to pull the background power of these bloodlines through to Spectre D and his progeny. In this way they help to give more strength to the front line push of these ancestors.
Even Chacco Blue has a Mecklenberg dam line that has the three quarter siblings Duellant and Doktorand, and many of his top progeny are returning with more lines of Duellant and close relatives. It is a pattern that Chacco Blue is looking for in his mares, and a similar story with dressage horses Quaterback and GP horse Bluetooth, as well as new sire Benjamin Franklin, so clearly this Grande / Duellant combination is still relevant. It seems to be just as valuable in jumping and dressage horses.
King Edward, ET FRH and Romeo 88 both have a prominent dam line of Garibaldi II– Grande with Duellant x 2, as do stallions Edward, Lissaro and Le Primeur.
Spectre D would do well to be bred to mares that continue to reinforce and refocus this same blood.
Thoroughbred Influence
Spectre D’s fourth dam, full Thoroughbred Cranda Boulevard, is full of the marvelous blood typical of that time. She has Vice Regent, Wilkes, Precipitation and his brother Persian Gulf at 5 x 5. Having these brothers in this position multiplies their potent influence and contributes many genes in common. Precipitation is the sire of Furioso xx which provides a valuable link to that bloodline in Just de Pomme and further amplifies the influence of Furioso xx with his sons Precipitation and Persian Gulf present.
The genetic giant sport brothers Pharos and Fairway are at 6 x 6 x 7 x 7 x 7.
Three quarter brothers Nearctic and Mossata are by Nearco with Hyperion dams at 4 x 4, and three quarter siblings have a powerful effect in pedigrees. They form structures and patterns which add strength and complexity to their producing power.
Now for a close look at Spectre D with his chart.
Looking at the pedigree of Spectre D, was the stallion choice of Stakkato simply an attempt to breed a good mare with a top jumping sire, or was it based on an in depth intentional selection process of actually looking at ways to upgrade the mare via the pedigree structure, by building in important female family strains and sex balancing bloodlines?
Most warmbloods are inadvertently bred, without a detailed examination of pedigrees, nor working out the genetic dominance in the mare before choosing a stallion. Jumping stallions are at least chosen because they reliably produce solid 1.60 progeny. Dressage stallion selections are far more driven by fashion and spectacular phenotypical characteristics which are not particularly heritable.
Genetically compatible matings with affinities and nicks rarely happen by chance – alot of horses have to be bred to get to the few good ones that have these factors.
The mating that produced Spectre D is both genetically compatible and also reveals one of the most successful ways to breed with Stakkato – by bringing together bloodlines that result in a pair of pivotal full sisters coming together.
It can be clearly seen on Spectre D’s chart that he is 3 x 5 to the full sisters Gottlinde and Geri, both by Gotthard out of the mare Steingilde.
Uniting female strains from the same mare line through different individuals is the strongest possible configuration in pedigree designs, and it doesn’t get much better than a pair of full sisters for passing on athleticism and sport talent to the progeny.
This particular combination of sisters occurs whenever Spartan or Stakkato is used over mares with Laptop, Le Primeur or Graf Top in their pedigree.
If this was simply a random mating, then it was most fortuitous, as Spectre D just so happens to have Laptop on his dam line, proving that it doesn’t necessarily take a line up of fashionable or commercial stallions to produce a champion performer.
Having these full sisters close up in the engine room of the pedigree and in an inbred position, they are in the ideal spot to have their superior sport characteristics and traits inherited by the progeny.
Siblings create many groups of common genes which are more likely to be inherited together and available to the progeny, and they certainly helped to give Spectre D his talent.
This pattern with these particular full sisters is evident in other successful horses by Stakkato and his sons, when they meet up with other horses that carry one of the sisters, or another mare from the same dam line.
This is one of the successful ‘ throw back ‘ patterns seen in Stakkato’s best progeny. All stallions have what are called ‘throwback patterns’ (Clive Harper) – which means they follow several different nicks and affinities with certain bloodlines which are seen over and over again in their top progeny, and with surprising regularity
See pedigree of Stallion Stakkato’s Highlight – bred on the same cross.
Here the same sisters Gottlinde and Geri are reinforced in a different pattern, with Geri being on the tail female line of this stallion. This is always a wonderful sight to see, as the mitochondrial DNA only travels on the tail female dam line, and breeding back into the female line with another horse from the same mare line concentrates the genes from these great mare families, and increases the likelihood of this being inherited by the progeny.
However, siblings anywhere in the engine room of a pedigree are the best thing to have and will be effective from almost any position.
It is important when line breeding or inbreeding to only focus on ancestors that are superior, sane and sound progenitors of talent, or are from good families , and not just focusing on duplicating any horse in the pedigree.
In this case the sisters Geri and Gottlinde are not just any random pair of sisters. They are both superior individuals. It is rare to find two progeny of a mare in a pedigree to begin with in 5 or 6 generations, because mares have so few progeny and because warmbloods are hybrids comprised of many different breeds.
To have sibling sisters appear within two top stallions such as Stakkato and Laptop says something in itself – their mother Steingilde must have been superior to be capable of producing daughters that have the genetic dominance to establish stallion lines.
The Steingilde line has produced many top horses including the 3 full sisters Geri, Gottlinde and Gilda. Brother Giovanni was a GP dressage horse. Another brother Gambrinus was a 1.70m jumper.
Sister Geri produced several progeny, including Giovanni (by Graphit) – GP dressage horse, Cadiz 1.50m jumper, and several 1.40 jumpers
Geri’s main influence came through her very important daughters. Daughter Candy was the dam of stallion Laptop, La Bonita who jumped 1.60, Sorastro 1.50, jumper, and a number of 1.40 jumpers.
Geri’s Daughter Capries was the dam of stallion and jumper Stakkato’s Highlight, as well as the dam of important stallions Graf Top I and II. These are looked at in detail on our How to Choose a Stallion page.
Geri’s sister Gottlinde produced the stallion Spartan, sire of Stakkato, as well as Alwin’s Ass 1.60m jumper, Starlet N 1.50m jumper and Platin 1.50m jumper.
Geri and Gottlinde are superior sisters with a progeny record that reveals their top production power, and the elite mitochondrial DNA and sex linked genes that can pass from this line.
These sisters were usually bred to Stakkato or his sons Satisfaction and Stolzenberg , which has the same effect of uniting these sisters in pedigrees, so the breeders knew something was working with this line, even if they didn’t know why.
The point of all this is to illustrate how these sisters are from a top dam line and are worth duplicating where possible to produce top jumping horses today.
It is also an example of returning to the stallion the best blood of his dam line, when combining Laptop with Spartan, as it adds an extra progeny line of the mare Steingilde who is present on the tail line of Spartan.
It is a very successful breeding pattern to follow for breeders wanting to design their own pedigrees and build in successful nicks and female affinities seen in great horses.
We don’t have to wait for these successful patterns to occur randomly by chance – breeders can deliberately build them into matings with very particular stallion choices for each mare, that marry up certain targeted bloodlines and unite important female families, as well as judicious sex balanced line breeding. It just takes careful conscious breeding decisions at each generation. Otherwise it has to randomly occur with luck.
Great stallions inherit their talent from their dams, on the whole. This is why the dam of a stallion is so important. Very rarely do the sons of a stallion live up to the talents of their sires. In breeding, the tendency is a regression toward the mean average of the breed, and not an upward progression for foals to inherit the same talent as their elite parents.
To avoid this trajectory, breeders can attempt to recreate the same throwback patterns that exist in the most successful progeny of all the best stallions.
Breeders can look for sires that will return the same dominances in their own mare lines, as is seen here with Stakkato progeny and in Spectre D.
Other Pedigree Factors
A quick look at some of Stakkato’s best progeny reveal that many of them have Calypso II, Absatz, Gotthard, Grande and Duellant on their dam lines.
Spectre D and his dam share some of these same factors, even though they cannot be seen on this pedigree chart.
Absatz is at 5 x 7 x 8 – all through daughter lines.
Lulu has her own dominance in Calypso II at 5 x 6 sex balanced.
Lulu also brings in sire Grande twice which of course brings more Duellant.
Stakkato is looking for more Gotthard in his mates which is why Grannus, Graf Grannus and Graf Top I are seen as common dam sires in his best progeny.
So Fairbanks Lulu was returning some of the same lines that regularly appear in Stakkato’s top progeny, and it is these connections that set the genetic stage for future success.
While Stakkato was obviously a successful stallion choice for Lulu, Stalypso could be even better. Being by Stakkato, the all important siblings would be at 4 x 5.
Stalypso is out of a Calypso II dam which matches up with the double cross in Lulu. He adds another Absatz on the 5th , and Grenadier on the 5th which brings in Grande again and two more lines of Duellant.
Stakkato Gold would be another choice that would reinforce different patterns in the dam. This mating would have the sister siblings at 4 x 5, adding in another Calypso II daughter and this time bringing in Ramiro and Ladykiller to strengthen those lines in Lulu.
In this way it can be carefully considered and chosen which bloodlines are going to be the most compatible.
Conclusion
To wrap it all up, Spectre D is a great example of how a small private breeder can produce a World Cup horse, from a home bred mare with unfashionable bloodlines which originated with a thoroughbred mare.
Spectre D also has the potent pedigree structure and dominance to make a top stallion. All stallions need a “genetic environment to succeed” (Clive Harper), which means they need mares that will “complement and supplement their own genetic strengths,” and dam Lulu has illustrated how this can be done.
The pedigree cannot make the horse on its own. All the stars have to align as well as a healthy dose of luck. The conformation has to functional for the job, the horse must be sound in its bio-mechanical and physiological aspects. As we know the environment is critical for a horse to succeed. “The right horse must meet the right rider and be surrounded by the right team.” (Isabel Werth). The progeny bred by Shane Davidson with this stallion will certainly have the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time. it will be interesting to observe Spectre D’s future as a sire and to see which mare lines will complement him and be seen to return in his best progeny. Hopefully he will be in demand with Australian breeders.