The KWPN breeding goal for harness horses is clear: we want to breed harness horses that can perform at the highest level in show sports. To achieve that goal, breeders make a considered choice for a stallion. They try, in that way, to breed a foal that will be able to stand out in the honour class of the show sport, with a conformation, character and movement that supports that. To see which sires were able to produce offspring with at least 50 winning points in show sport, we digged into our data. Also, we moved the ladder a bit to see if the list with sires that produced the most offspring with 100 points or more differs a lot.

The stallion selection program with KWPN is built up in a way, that we hope to end up with those stallions for breeding, that can make the biggest genetic contribution to the next generations of harness horses. For that reason, it is interesting to evaluate to which extent the stallions that were approved in the past were able to do exactly that. The KWPN approved stallions that were taken into account, were born in 1990 or later. In total, 384 horses descending from such a stallion were able to collect at least 50 winning points. Those horses have 72 different sires. Only stallions that were approved, are considered in this analysis.

Manno On Top
Looking at absolute numbers of offspring that earned at least 50 winning points, it will not surprise anybody that the outstanding stallion Manno (s.Fabricius) is in the lead with 94 offspring. He is followed by Patijn (s.Kolonel) with 22 sons and daughters and he is closely followed by Larix (s.Fabricius) with 21 offspring. The other stallions in this top 10 are well-matched. The youngest stallion in this list is Cizandro (s.Waldemar) on the shared 7^th place.  

1. Manno - 94
2. Patijn - 22
3. Larix - 21
4. Jonker - 14
5. Plain’s Liberator - 14
6. Roy M - 13
7. Cizandro – 12, Saffraan - 12
8. Lorton – 10, Reflex M - 10

Surprising Top 10
When we compare the number of offspring with 50 winning points or more to the total number of offspring of a sire, we see a surprising top 10. This is partly due to the fact that some of these stallions have produced only limited numbers of offspring, so that one or a couple of well-performing offspring make their percentage skyrocket. Renovo-son Milano, who comes to a percentage of 11,3 thanks to 7 performing offspring with only 62 foals in total, leads this ranking. Also, the number 2, Indigo (s.Renovo) with only 29 foals in total with three of them performing in sports above average, stands out. Whiskey HBC and his sire Reflex M (s.Larix) are found in spots 3 and – shared – 5. Reflex M shares this place among others with the last year deceased Colonist (s.Vulcano), who registered over 100 offspring. Also related to the total number of offspring, Manno is doing well: 5,7% of his offspring are capable to earn at least 50 winning points. Moreover, Vulcano (s.Manno) and Roy M (s.Larix) only just fell out of this top 10 with 4,8% and 4,7% respectively.

1. Milano - 11,3%
2. Indigo - 10,3%
3. Whiskey HBC - 10,0%
4. Impressionist - 7,7%
5. Colonist - 5,8%, Reflex M - 5,8%, Ranno - 5,8%
6. Manno - 5,7%
7. Kentuckyboy - 5,6%
8. Talos - 4,9%

Exceptional Class
Horses that are able to achieve a sport result of 100 winning points or more, can be considered of an exceptional class. That is why it is interesting to see if the top 10 changes a lot, when we consider only those horses and their sires for this analysis. Looking at just numbers, the top 4 is almost equal to those with horses with 50 winning points or more. Only Jonker (s.Renovo) and Larix have switched spots. Roy M (s.Larix) climbed up the tree one place and Atleet (s.Patijn) is new in this list with his sixth place. He is the youngest stallion in this top 10. Moreover, he shares this sixth place with all the other stallions in this top 10. Logically, we see in this ranking relatively old stallions, because the offspring of younger stallions are not always  old enough to have achieved this number of winning points yet.

1. Manno - 46
2. Patijn - 12
3. Jonker - 11
4. Larix - 10
5. Roy M - 7
6. Atleet – 6, Lorton – 6, Milano – 6, Plain’s Liberator – 6, Reflex M - 6

Equal Top Four
When we calculate the percentage of offspring with 100 winning points or more for the sires, we see an equal top 4 as when we look at offspring with 50 winning points or more. Milano is again in the lead, followed by Indigo and Whiskey HBC. It counts here also, that in some cases a relatively small number of offspring of which one or some do well, make a high place in this ranking possible. Again, Roy M just fell out of the top 10 with 2,6% (7 offspring with 100+ winning points, on a total of 274 registered offspring).

1. Milano - 9,7%
2. Indigo - 6,9%
3. Whiskey HBC - 5,0%
4. Impressionist - 3,8%
5. Interessant - 3,7%
6. Reflex M - 3,5%
7. Jochem - 3,3%
8. Jonker - 3,1%
9. Vulcano - 2,9%
10. Manno - 2,8%

Separate Ranking Young Stallions
Most of the sons and daughters of relatively young stallions is not old enough to pop up in the rankings mentioned above. For that reason, we made a separate ranking for sires that were born in 2004 or later and consequently were approved in 2007 or later. We look at the numbers and percentages of their offspring that have collected 50 or more winning points up to date. A lot of the progeny of these stallions are upcoming, but this gives an indication.

When we look again at the number of offspring with 50+ winning points, it is not surprising to find Cizandro at the top with 12 offspring. Also, Atleet and Colonist, who we saw earlier in the rankings we discussed, are in the top 5. Delviro HBC (s.Vulcano) and Eebert (s.Atleet) complete this overview with 2 offspring each.

1. Cizandro – 12
2. Atleet – 8
3. Colonist – 6
4. Delviro HBC – 2, Eebert - 2

Related to the number of offspring, the top 5 differs a bit. Colonist is able to take the lead with 6 offspring out of a little over a 100 in total that have a result in sports for 50+ points. Again, some of these stallions have a relatively low number of offspring with one or a couple of well-performing offspring. Cizandro and Atleet keep doing well percentagewise, and Bakboord HBC (s.Larix) on 5^th spot did not come up in earlier lists.

For this generation of stallions, a lot of their offspring are upcoming. That is why the top 5 may be very different in a couple of years.

1. Colonist – 5,8%
2. Zepplin – 3,3%
3. Cizandro – 2,2%
4. Atleet – 1,9%
5. Bakboord HBC – 1,5%