Ladykiller xx
Ladykiller xx embodies the powerful type of the thoroughbred. He was a strikingly handsome stallion with pronounced masculine attributes. He had an excellent mastery of the three basic gaits and was imbued with the very best character and temperament values. Of the enormous number of thoroughbreds that were applied in breeding in the 1960s and the early 1970s he turned out to be the best by far. The sires who came before him such as Anblick xx and Cottage Son xx who performed stud duty as contemporaries of Ladykiller xx like the stallions Manometer xx and Marlon xx, also founded their own stallion lines. None however was as convincing on such a broad basis as Ladykiller xx.
He clearly transmitted himself his marked type the magnificent head correct and powerful foundation and excellent jumping ability in regard to capacity manner of jumping leg technique and above all spirit. A number of his progeny were conspicuous because of their light tan colour with green legs as well as the occasionally open kidney region. His chestnuts were consistently even nobler than his bay progeny. Particular successes were achieved by mating with mares that were also of noble blood. Thus his best stallion sons by far Landgraf I and Lord were both bred out of mares who themselves had significant proportions of the best thoroughbred blood.
Landgraf I became the most important sire of showjumpers of the twentieth century. The Holstein Breeder’s Association erected a life-sized bronze monument in his honour on the precincts of the association centre in Elmshorn the unveiling of which Landgraf I attended personally. Lord was approvals champion and likewise sent a whole armada of progeny to victory on the great showjumping courses around the globe. The fact that he was a three-quarter bred may be the reason why his hereditary transmission was not always of a completely harmonious type.
Even though Ladykiller did not really sire dressage horses he produced a son Lido whose forte in hereditary transmission was exactly in the field of dressage. It would be hard to find another Holsteiner who procreated dressage horses for the very highest demands as this stallion. In the Netherlands the Ladykiller xx son Heidelberg who was named after his damsire became the pacemaker of the breed. The sires Lorenz Lagos Ladalco and Lamour all also went to Holland following their successful above average covering periods in Holstein. Today it is almost a necessity of fashion in Holstein that a horse carries Ladykiller xx blood at least two or three times whereby it occurs from time to time that horses in the first generations are inbred five or six times to this invaluable foundation sire. All along a certain measure of inbreeding has been a regular formula for success in Holstein breeding. Anyone looking more closely at Holstein bloodlines or respectively the pedigree papers of individual horses down to the roots is frequently taken aback about how frequently the same name literally jumps into ones face in the earlier generations. Today where fresh blood in Holstein does not take effect at all continued inbreeding to the proven classic Ladykiller xx is a piece of brinkmanship that demands a great amount of sure instinct by the breeders of Holstein.
When the German Warmblood breeders in the 60s and 70s turned to the Thoroughbred for refinement and athleticism, there were a number of important stallions that played a key role in the shaping the modern sport horse – none was more significant than Ladykiller.
While he stood in the far north of Germany, in Holstein, his influence continues to spread… in 2002 the most expensive horse at the prestigious Fences Auction in France, was l’Arc de Triomphe, sold for 460,000 euros, a world record for a three year old – and he is a direct descendent of the great Ladykiller, indeed with a double cross on the sire line since he is by Landor S, by Landadel by Landgraf by Ladykiller, out of Novella out of Furth, also by Ladykiller.
Ladykiller was born in England in 1961 but he was no star on the racetrack, racing three times in two years and rating only a 80.5 kilo handicap – which luckily for him, was 0.5 kilos more than the minimum required for a Thoroughbred stallion to be accepted into German breeding ranks. Before his death in 1979, he sired 35 stallion sons including the twin pillars of Holstein: Landgraf and Lord. Both it should be noted out of mares with a good percentage of Thoroughbred blood – Lord’s dam was a full blood, while Landgraf’s dam was 25% Thoroughbred.
Ladykiller’s breeeding features all the usual suspects found on jumping Thoroughbred pedigrees – Blue Peter, Phalaris, Son in Law, and you will find more discussion of this blood on the Bay Ronald page.
In his Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Warmblood Breed, Dr Dietrich Rossow had this to say about Ladykiller and his influence:
"He was an averaged sized, clearly masculine type with a beautiful head, really heavy neck, good shoulder, rather flat loin, and a nicely coupled, heavily muscled croup. He had first rate legs and feet for a Thoroughbred and was an elastic mover. He was everything a state breeding program could wish for. With his 35 approved sons and 195 approved daughters, he has had the greatest impact of all on the Holsteiner breed. His best produce came through crosses with mares with some Thoroughbred blood. This was just the opposite case as with Anblick. When crossed with coarse, common mares, he produced accordingly. Today he must be viewed as one of the most important jumper sires of modern time. To enumerate all of his great performance offspring in the world of jumping goes beyond the limits of this essay. He sired fewer dressage horses. Whereas Marlon and Anblick influenced this Holsteiner modification phase more in the direction of riding horse types, Ladykiller offspring correspond more to performance, jumper types. As a rule, they are strong horses, they are not, at first, very tight with their front ends. This however, quickly improves with increasing maturity."
Despite the proliferation of C line horses in Holstein breeding, the Ladykiller line retains its pride of place, indeed Claus Schridde draws attention to its proliferation even on the one set of papers:
"Today it is almost a necessity of fashion in Holstein that a horse carries Ladykiller xx blood at least two or three times, whereby it occurs from time to time, that horses in the first generations are inbred five or six times to this invaluable foundation sire. All along, a certain measure of inbreeding has been a regular formula for success in Holstein breeding. Anyone looking more closely at Holstein bloodlines or respectively, the pedigree papers of individual horses down to the roots, is frequently taken aback about how frequently the same name literally jumps into one’s face in the earlier generations. Today, where fresh blood in Holstein does not take effect at all, continued inbreeding to the proven ‘classic’ Ladykiller xx is a piece of brinkmanship that demands a great amount of sure instinct by the breeders of Holstein." {from Selected Sires of Germany – A Yearbook of German Sires 2000, see http://www.horse-gate.com/ for information}
In his review of the Holstein Upgraders in Z Magazine, Jasper Nissen has this to say of Ladykiller as a stallion: "Passed on a good temperament, although sometimes a little hot. In spite of his early injuries he did not pass on any defects in the limbs. Produced numerous first class broodmares and licensed stallions, including the top progenitors, Landgraf I and Lord, Founded his own, wide-branched stallion line. Ladykiller xx passed on specific characteristics, such a s a fine head, an often light brown colour with white on the legs, sometimes less coupled loins, good, powerful and correct bones, very good jumping qualities (lots of guts, power, fine technique and rounded back over the fence}, excellent basic gaits and on average, good sized products; his chestnuts were often a bit more noble than his bay offspring."
Hofgrafin
Landgraf II
Shoraya
Eva
Landgraffin
Lagos
Furth
LANCASTER
LEANDER
Lorenz
Fiance
LEONARDO
LANDSTURM
Latino
NOCTURN
Hyazinthe
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Lord
Leon III
Landgraf I
Frederica
Eider
Liostro
Lepanto
Ladalco
Lorenza
Ruege