Breeders are always looking for information. Which stallions are doing well with their offspring? HorseTelex provides an important source of information for this in the form of the IPV world rankings, where stallions are classified according to the age of their oldest offspring. This gives a fair comparison and the younger sires, with oldest offspring up to 9, 11 and 13 years old, also come into the picture.

But breeders also want to learn from the latest news. For example, which sires made their mark at the World Championships in Lanaken? This question is easier to ask than to answer. After all, the number of participating offspring of a stallion depends not only on the quality of these horses, but also on the chances the stallion had in breeding, i.e. on the number of offspring of a stallion.

And that number, again, is not easy to determine. After all, foals of the same stallion are registered all over the world. Exact analyses based on complete figures are therefore not possible. However, with some research, it is possible to create a reliable picture of the minimum number of offspring that stallions gave birth to in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the birth years of the horses participating in the WC. Among other things, we looked at the numbers of offspring registered with the major sport horse studbooks in north-western Europe.

Then, of course, it is interesting to see how many offspring of a stallion actually managed to reach the final. On average, it is already a sign of quality if a horse is good enough to participate in the WC. But to reach the final, scope, carefulness and attitude are required.

Finally, it is important to divide the stallions into groups according to the number of registered horses from the respective birth years. Only then can we meaningfully compare the sires.

Popular progenitors

Among the popular progenitors with more than 1,500 offspring from the 2015, 2016 and 2017 crops, Cornet Obolensky (33) and Kannan (32) had a big say. A special mention deserves Cornet, who had no fewer than nine offspring qualified for the finals. Diamant de Semilly was also well represented with 23 offspring out of more than 1,000 foals born.

Comme il Faut

In the group of stallions with more than 500 offspring, Cicero (16), Eldorado van de Zeshoek (12), Dominator (12), Casall (12), For Pleasure (11), Zirocco Blue (9) and Elvis ter Putte (8) did well, but Cornet's son Comme il Faut (25) clearly stood out. In this group, Dominator did a good job with no fewer than 5 finalists.

Emerald and Aganix

With 13 offspring out of some 300 offspring, Emerald van 't Ruytershof and Aganix du Seigneur put in a remarkably good performance. Carrera (7), Toulon (7), Casallco (6) and Dallas (5) also did well in this category.

Bamako de Muze

In the group of stallions with a limited number of offspring, Bamako de Muze (8), Don't touch Tiji Hero (7), Mosito van de Hellehof (5) and Taran de la Pomme (4) are notable names. It should be noted that Mosito does not even have 7-year-old offspring yet. Oldenburger Bennys Legacy (Lupicor x Voltaire), who breeds in Ireland, also deserves an honourable mention - with a very limited number of offspring.

Greatest common denominator

Looking at the greatest common denominator, the conclusion is that sires of sharp, fast horses such as Cornet Obolensky, Comme il Faut, Emerald and Aganix were the best represented.