His Moment by Millennium out of Hermine by Le Rouge is the champion stallion of the 2016 Trakehner licensing in Neumünster’s Holstenhallen.
A smart dark brown stallion from the breeding establishment of Christian Röhl (Stendal) and under the ownership of a syndicate, His Moment (Schäplitz) dazzled across four days with his quality of movement, sovereignty and totally pure type. Quality of this level comes at a price, and this price at auction was a whopping 200,000 euros. This sum was the accepted bid and it came from Udo Wagner for Danish dressage rider Andreas Helgstrand. His Moment is soon to become a Dane!
Champion stallion headed for Denmark
The licensing committee judged the champion stallion to have given a consistently convincing performance amongst his 35 competitors. “And he has a truly top drawer pedigree”, said breeding manager Lars Gehrmann, “Mother and grandmother embody this exceptional degree of class. His Moment’s full sister Heavenly Brown was last year’s champion mare here. To have that success and now champion stallion…as a breeder, it would be hard to achieve much more in such a short space of time.“ The champion stallion, who has now been sold to Denmark, was purchased as a foal by a syndicate at the foal auction of the national Trakehner tournament. This is the third time that this syndicate, which includes Trakehner Gestüt Panker, Gestüt Hämelschenburg, breeder Christian Röhl and Trakehner Gestüt Schäplitz, has achieved such a success.
Reserve champion truly enchanting
Reserve champion of the Trakehner Stallion Market was white horse Zauberreigen by Rheinklang out of Zauberglück by Interconti. Breeder and owner of this young stallion, who impressed on all four days with his motor skills, lightness and vigour, is Dr. Elke Söchtig (Elmarshausen). “A stallion that embodies nobility and the Trakehner flair, a highly sympathetic horse with a most interesting pedigree”, said Lars Gehrmann in his commentary. This stallion was bought at the subsequent auction by Gut Staffelde, Berlin for 125,000 euros.
The second most expensive horse at the stallion auction was licensed dark-brown horse Speedway by Schwarzgold out of Shahira by Anduc. This stallion, bred by Udo Schmittberger (Schotten/ Hessen) and owned by Gestüt Hörstein (Alzenau), went for 170,000 euros.
Three premium stallions
As well as the champion stallion and reserve champion, three Trakehner stallions were awarded premium stallion status. Herzensbrecher by Rufflan Reef xx out of Herzensglück by Imperio was simultaneously awarded the title of best half-blood stallion. Already licensed by the ZSAA, the stallion showed himself to be “a half-blood stallion one can normally only dream of, one that, as a breeder, you could really use as your yardstick”, according to Gehrmann. Herzensbrecher is owned and bred by Stephanie Herken-Wendt (Majenfelde).
Also licensed and awarded the accolade “premium stallion” was High Five by Saint Cyr out of Hanna by Summertime, brother of one-time reserve champion High Motion. High Five comes from the breeding establishment of Luise Bredemeier (Petershagen). The licensing committee awarded one more premium title – to In Step by Schwarzgold out of Freude by Buddenbrock. His breeder is Hans-Joachim Scharffetter (Schwanewede), who sold the brown youngster at the national tournament auction in Hannover to Hofgut Rosenau in Hessian Dreieich. Lars Gehrmann: “A stallion with a strong sporting disposition with a stable base and form.”
Auction results for the licensed stallions
Of the 13 licensed stallions, nine were auctioned and achieved a total value of 741,000 euros. The average price was 82,333 euros. This result is lower than last year’s average (an average price of 119,500 euros), though the 2015 average was strongly influenced by the record price of 340,000 euros paid for Perpignan Noir. “We can’t expect to sell stallions for 300,000 euros or more every year,” emphasised Lars Gehrmann, “that would be folly”.
Strong mare auction
A great deal of interest was generated by the fine collection of mares at the Trakehner Stallion Market. The mare who secured the highest price at this auction was a dark-brown beauty called Ambiente. This four-year-old daughter of Oliver Twist out of Aguilera by Hofrat was sold to Berlin for 42,000 euros. Ambiente comes from the breeding establishment of Gestüt Heinen-Issum. With a price tag of 40,000 euros, Königsehre by Interconti out of Königsfee III by Tambour was the second most expensive mare. This fine white mare, bred and owned by Dr. Elke Söchtig (Elmarshausen) was sold to Lower Saxony. The mare auction concluded with a total haul of 257,000 euros and an average price of 23,409 euros (15,568 in 2015).