The Holsteiner of the Month for January is a stallion who has made an excellent name for himself in recent years as a dual sire. He tops the latest rankings of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) in the eventing discipline, whilst also holding eleventh place in show jumping. We are talking about Diarado (Klaus Thingholm Kristensen, DEN-Ulstrup), the 2007 Holsteiner Champion Stallion.

Like hardly any other stallion, this son of Diamant de Semilly out of Roxette I by Corrado-Contender had captivated both the licensing commission and the public from day one of the licensing. And Diarado was to live up to his promise to the breeders. According to HorseTelex, he has sired 93 licensed stallions, around 350 broodmares – over 40 of which have been awarded the State Premium – and over 1,200 registered sport horses are attributed to him to date, according to the FN, whilst he himself enjoyed success in show jumping up to 1.50 metres under Bastian Freese and Jonas Vervoort (BEL). This year, Diarado is 18 years old and, given his sire’s record, is beyond reproach. In Holstein, he has managed in a very short space of time to establish his own line of stallions, notably through his son Dinken. In eventing, the Holsteiner Verband is currently represented in the top 100 of the WBFSH rankings in particular by Dacapo (Laura Collett/GBR), Dynamite Jack (Sara Algotsson/SWE) and Diabolo (Gemma Tinney/AUS) in the top 100 of the WBFSH rankings who have helped propel Diarado to the top spot. Diarado’s offspring registered with the FN in Germany alone have already amassed over two million euros in lifetime prize money.