2026 Holsteiner Licensing: The Pedigrees of the 46 Selected Young Stallions

Sixteen of the 46 stallions trace their direct paternal lineage back to Cor de la Bryère —more than to any other sire. Two lines share the field almost equally. The Caletto II branch via Casall accounts for six stallions: one is descended from the Holsteiner superstar himself (out of the original four Casall sons that were entered for the preliminary selection), plus one son each by Cascadello I, Casentos, Cieran, and Coolness, as well as a grandson via Casalou PS, who in turn is descended from Casallco.

Six stallions also come from the line through Corrado I and Clinton, thanks to the top sire Cornet Obolensky: His son Cahil sired one of the four registered sons. Comme il faut is represented by one son. His sons, Charaktervoll (two out of three) and Pegase van’t Ruytershof (one), are following suit. Eldorado van de Zeshoek also comes into play via Clinton.

The rest of the Cor-de-la-Bryère group is made up of the Chacco Blue sons Chaccothage Blue PS and Chacoon Blue, Conthargos (through Converter and Contender), and Ermitage Kalone, who also belongs to this line through Catoki and Cambridge. Five sons of Ermitage Kalone were entered; one made the cut.

Diamant de Semilly: Three out of Three for Diamant de Operette

Ten stallions trace their lineage back to Diamant de Semilly. The French sire himself accounts for two of the

three

entered sons. However, his son Diamant de Operette—bred by Manfred von Allwörden—has the best record in the entire field: All three of his sons are competing. In addition, there is one son each by Diacont and Emerald van het Ruytershof. Through Diarado, the sons Dinken and Diego de Semilly are represented, each with one son; through Christian Ahlmann’s 2000 Championship stallion Dominator Z, his son Domirado is represented.

Capitol I: The Clarimo Quartet

Clarimo will be the stallion with the most offspring at the Holsteiner licensing. Of the eight sons entered, four have been selected—more than any other stallion. If we include his son Cooper II, who will be sending a son, as well as the Cardento son Vatson Sitte, the Capitol I line totals six stallions.

Furioso II, Almé, and others

Four stallions trace their lineage back to Furioso II. Through Voltaire come the Kannan sons Keaton I (one of four) and Know-how, as well as Denzel van ’t Meulenhof through Marius Claudius and Concorde, plus the direct For Pleasure son Forino.

Four stallions also trace back to Almé via Hors la Loi II and Jalisco B. Untouchable himself sired one son, while his son Uriko, despite having four sons of his own, produced no descendants. The Uriko sons United Way (one of three) and Uricas van de Kattevennen nevertheless carry on the line, as does Untouched (BEL) LB, who traces back to his great-grandfather Untouchable via United Touch S.

Two stallions trace their lineage back to Darco (via Ogano Sitte and O’Bailey van het Brouwershof), one each to Farn via Heartbreaker and Harley VDL, and to Mr. Blue via Zirocco Blue, who has produced one of four sons.

The list also includes two dressage sires: Bon Joker and Vitalis.

Holstein and other breeding regions

: 105 stallions were listed in the preliminary selection catalog; 44 of them were selected, which corresponds to 42 percent. In addition, there are two late entries. According to the catalog, 24 of the 46 candidates are by Holsteiner sires and 22 by stallions from other associations. The Selle Français and BWP are the most strongly represented, each with four candidates, followed by OS, SBS, and KWPN, each with three. Among the breeders, Manfred von Allwörden leads the way: Six of the seven stallions he entered have been selected.

Mater

nal Sires: Casall Leads

Casall

appears four times as a direct maternal sire, more often than any other stallion. If we also include the second and third maternal sire positions, Casall and Landgraf I are tied with six mentions each, followed by Quidam de Revel (five) and Capitol I (four). Thoroughbreds in the first three generations remain the exception: Only five candidates have a Thoroughbred among their first three maternal grandsires, namely Julio Mariner xx, Grundyman xx, Chromatic xx, Heraldik xx, and Mytens xx.

Tracing the Lineage: Ladykiller xx via Landgraf I and Lord

Ladykiller xx has left his mark on Holstein primarily through two sons: Landgraf I and Lord. In the direct paternal line, none of the 46 candidates can be traced back to him. On the maternal side, however, his bloodline is widely represented—for example, through Casall, whose maternal grandfather Lavall I is a son of Landgraf I, or through Landgraf I himself, who appears as the second or third maternal grandfather in several maternal lines.

A large portion of the Lord bloodline comes from a single mare: Wodka II, a daughter of Lord out of Gerona 2. She is the dam of Clearway and thus the granddam of Clarimo, the great-granddam of Cooper II, and—through Clearway—also appears in the pedigree of Cascadello I. She is also the grandmother of United Way. The Ermitage Kalone candidate (No. 64) is even a direct descendant of the Wodka II mare line.

Family Ties

: Aside from Wodka II, there are other cross-links. For example, Clarimo’s dam, Wisma (by Caletto II), also appears in the pedigree of the Cieran son No. 28, whose second dam is a daughter of Capitol I out of Wisma.

Cahil’s dam, Operette III (by Contender), is also the dam of Diamant de Operette and the granddam of the Cooper II son No. 40. This means that five candidates trace their lineage back to this one mare: the Cahil son No. 5, the three Diamant de Operette sons, and No. 40.

The Holsteiner Verband has published the complete preliminary list of selected stallions here.