Sandro
Born 1974, 171 cms - Breeder: Klaus Delef Harbeck
It is through Sandro that the blood of Sacramento Song lives on and daily grows more influential in both
dressage and jumping breeding. Sacramento Song was a classically bred English Thoroughbred, who stood
in Holstein from 1973 to his early death in 1979. He is described in Dr Dietrich Rossow’s Stallion Book of the
Holsteiner Warmblood Breed as: "A classically bred, English Thoroughbred, with beautiful, smoothly
harmonious topline. Beautiful head, rather low set on neck, impressive shoulder with good coupling to the
croup. Well muscled, strong legs and feet, sufficient gaits. Tremendous jumping ability, very tight with
front end and good with knees."?Dr Rossow was of the opinion that he bred: ‘Very good temperaments,
keen, energetic dispositions, often rather hot. Stallions and geldings steadier in competition than mares,
who were often ‘witchy’. Top jumper sire!’ ?Alas as a private stallion he was only sparingly used by the
Holstein breeders to their later regret. By 1990 with progeny earnings of DM696,000 he was the 8th most
successful post-war Thoroughbred sire in Germany! Sacramento Song had 31 competitors with placings, 29
of which were showjumpers. After his death three exceptional sons were licensed on the grounds of their
competition results: Sympatico, Sacramento Son and Sandro.?Bent Neergaard is a very respected Danish
breeder, he is also the man who ‘discovered’ Sandro.?"I first saw Sandro when he was two and an half
years old. He was presented at the Holsteiner stallion selection and was not accepted. So with one of my
friends we bought him and took him to Denmark. We presented him at the licensing and he was approved
and then did a very good 100 days test. A couple of years later he went over to the famous eventing
rider, Nils Haagensen. He did quite well with him, but he was probably better for showjumping, so he was
handed over to my partner who took him jumping internationally. "In Denmark, he was based at Fumen, but
it wasn’t really the right place for him. There were a lot of old Oldenburger heavy horses – we thought it
would be the right place for him but it wasn’t. Then he moved to the southern area of Jutland, close to
Germany, a Holsteiner area. He covered some Holsteiner mares and with them, he was really good. But still
he wasn’t accepted all over Denmark – he only had a few progeny from the first years and it wasn’t easy
to get him accepted by the breeding association or the breeders."?"He was sold to Paul Schockemöhle, and
he understood the quality of the horse. There is quite a lot of Thoroughbred in this horse, and they can be
a little bit loose in front, but it was a modern horse. I think he was ten years in advance of his time, even
in Denmark. Schockemöhle could see exactly the potential of that horse, the modern type with long legs,
good riding capability – and he mixed him with the right mares, the mares with the German ‘G’ blood. Now
you can see Sandro blood in all the major breeding associations all over the world. "What caught your
eye??"I had been in the army for many years, and also worked with horses for many years. I liked lighter
horses than most of the breeders in those days. I liked his eyes and his beautiful head, I liked this very
fine looking horse – and I liked the blood also, I thought he could be a very good performance horse. In
those days, the breeders didn’t look enough at performance, and I thought he would bring in some
performance."
Sacramento Song
Sacremento Song had 23 starts as a 2, 3 and 4 year old, for four wins, and the moderately successful
winnings of £4,241, he stood successfully in England before coming to Germany’s Holstein region when his
owner, Charlie Munford decided to retire from the breeding game due to old age. His sire, Sicambre won
both the French Derby and the Grand Prix of Paris while his dam, was by Sayajirao, a St Leger winner.
Sacramento Song in Germany
According to that great expert on Holstein breeding, Jasper Nissen in a fascinating article in Z Magazine
(August 2004), “Sacramentro Song’s career in Holstein seriously suffered from the fact that he was not
studbook owned but privately owned and was active precisely in the period in which the Thoroughbred had
fallen into complete disgrace with the studbook. In addition, he was stationed in not the best breeding
district. Nevertheless he soon proved himself a top class sire. He produced a large number of first class
showjumping horses, several event horses, no dressage horses. He often passed on his own type. He was
a purebred bay, often with a dark shade, he produced tall horses, somewhat light in the bones, with an
excellent character and eager workers with an energetic temperament, often a little hot. Geldings and
stallions lasted longer in the sport than his daughters, who often needed ‘instructions for handling’. Many
of his daughters however, proved quality broodmares. Unfortunately his only licensed son, Symphatico
(licensed for his results in showjumping) died after one breeding season. Another son who proved himself in
the sport was Sandro, stationed in Oldenburg.”?Certainly it is through Sandro that the line is becoming
increasingly influential – both in jumping and in dressage.
Pik Bube
Pik Bube was himself a successful sire in his own right, but more importantly he became one half of the
magic equation: Donnerhall x Pik Bube - for the overwhelming majority of successful Donnerhall progeny are
out of mares by Pik Bube. ?It was a great surprise when the head of the State Stud Celle, Christian von
Steglin failed to include Pik Bube in the ‘Celle Lot’ (the state stud director has first pick of the successful
young stallions) and let him go to the glamorous Grönwohldhof studfarm - where he formed a hugely
successful partnership with resident trainer, Herbert Rehbein. They won 11 out of 12 advanced classes in
their only competition season in 1980. ?Pik Bube’s sire, Pik König is considered the most important son of
the famous Thoroughbred sire of showjumpers, Pik As xx. Pik König sired 19 Approved sons and 22 State
Premium mares. His offspring - such as Pirol 37 - were mainly successful in showjumping. With a dressage
index of 126, and a jumping index of 131, Pik König had an overall rating of 129. His sire, Pik As xx stood at
the State Stud Celle from 1953-69, where he sired four approved sons.
Pik As was only 157 cm tall but according to Claus Schridde in his survey Thoroughbred sires in Hanover
(II) in Z Magazine, June/July 2005 ( www.zangersheide.com ) "far from tall, Pik As looked great and always
made a deep impression at his presentations. At stud at Hohnstof in the Arlenburger Elbe polder, the
superbly bred female stock in that region offered him enormous opportunities which he did not waste. With
top class progeny such as Pesgö under Helga Köhler and Porta Westfalica ridden by Hartwig Steenken, he
soon earned a good reputation as a showjumping horse producer. He hardly produced any dressage horses.
State stud Celle had kept three sons from the last seasons in his career: the dark brown Pik König, the
chestnut, Pik Junge and the grey Pikör... Pik König... developed into a top-class showjumping horse
producer. His sons Pik Bube I and II even produced many dressage horses."
Pik Bube’s dam, Franka also produced the full-brother, Pik Bube II and the advanced dressage horse,
Poseidon 30. Her dam, Dohlenfurstin, was an international showjumper under the name Daniela.
Dohlenfurstin is also the dam of Grand Prix showjumper, Prince Charming.
Franka is by Frustra II was a crucially important dam sire in the Hanoverian studbook, stallions such as
Donkosak, Drosselklang I & II, Goldfalk, Graphit, Gralsritter, Imperial, Löwenstein, Piaff, Wachmann I & II,
Webefunk, and many more, were out of mares by Frustra II.
Pik Bube I sired performers in all disciplines. His daughter, Pikantje was Federal German riding horse
champion of 1981, and Pik Bube’s Girl won the 1990 Federal Mare Show in Verden. Pik Primaire and Pik
Royal were amongst the 49 of his offspring that were successful in advanced dressage, while 19
showjumpers achieved advanced level. Perhaps the most successful of his stallion sons has been Piaster
who stands in Bavaria, Pik Labonics has been a successful sire for the Westfaliens, and Pommery has
produced some useful progeny in Hanover. His son, Pik Noir competed successfully in dressage and was the
sire of Prinz Paul, who placed 3rd in the six year old Dressage Championship at the 2001
Bundeschampionate.
As a brood mare sire, Pik Bube has been a phenomenon, especially when teamed with Donnerhall:
Davignon, Don Primero, Don Schufro, Donatelli, Donnerbube, Dream of Glory, Duntroon - all bred on that
magic cross Donnerhall/Pik Bube.
At the height of his powers, at the age of 18, Pik Bube suddenly broke down under his rider and died
almost immediately - his was a great loss.
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