As befits a superstar, Contender has a first-class pedigree in which we find many Holsteiner stallions such as Calypso II, Ramiro, Ladykiller xx and also Holsteiner performance blood such as the H and L lines.
The Calypso II son Contender was one of the most frequented stallions of the Holsteiner Verband. He was licensed for Holstein in Neumünster in 1986 and then leased to Oldenburg for three years. He completed his stallion performance test in Adelheidsdorf - like his father as the best of his year: highest scores in rideability, willingness to perform and excellent marks in the jumping assessment.
Stallion performance test winner 1987 Adelheidsdorf, total score 133.41 (dressage 118.91, jumping 147) With almost 100 licensed stallions, Contender is one of the most influential stallions ever. His numerous offspring in the sport include Montender with Marco Kutscher, Checkmate with Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, and the three-time derby winner Collin with Tony Hassmann. In 2006, Contender provided the champion stallion, Cubito, who was sold to the USA for 400,000 euros. The sire of the century Landgraf I has enough blood on the mother's side via Ladykiller xx and Ahorn Z rounds off the pedigree in the third generation.
Contender's father CALYPSO II is one of the best sons of the Holstein trademark stallion COR DE LA BRYERE and also has a top breeding value for jumping with 151 points. Calypso II himself was successful in show jumping at advanced level under Dr. Michael Rüping and comes from one of the most successful Holsteiner mare lines 6582. Dam Table produced 6 licensed sons, including Calypso's full siblings Calypso I to V.
Contender's dam GOFINE is one of the best-known mares in Holstein (line 2472), she produced several top show jumpers such as the internationally jumping Ulina (DM under Susanne Behring), or Largo, Frechdachs and Florenza as well as the licensed stallion Cornetto by. Caletto I, who has a ZWS level of 136 and can show successes in advanced level. Gofine's daughter Akelei II also produced the licensed stallions Cassandro I and II , both of which compete in advanced level show jumping.
Dam sire Ramiro Z was internationally successful himself. With RAMIRO , the sire of GOFINE , we find another trademark stallion in Contender's dam line, who himself jumped successfully internationally under Fritz Ligges and later strongly influenced the entire European breeding from Zangersheide. Among other things, he produced the famous Ratina Z, which achieved international success and Olympic medals under both Piet Raymakers and Ludger Beerbaum.
Granddam CITA comes from the famous thoroughbred and line founder LADYKILLER xx , from whose line famous licensed stallions such as LANDGRAF I and LORD as well as numerous international show jumpers such as the Hamburg Derby winner BOY (Eddie Macken, IRL) come.
Gofine has inbred several times to Holstein line founders: LORETTO (5 x 4), HEINTZE (7 x 4), FIRST (7 x 5). And we also find the valuable SON-IN-LAW-xx blood on both the father's and mother's side (5x6). In the later generations we again find the top blood of ST. SIMON xx, which appears in Gofine's 12-generation pedigree in a very high concentration of 4% (2 x 8, 2 x 9 on father's side, then 7 x 8th generation, 6 x 9, 1 x 10th generation on Gofine's mother's
The great Contender success, as well as his sires, breeding value, is most often attributed to the contribution of the excellent seller français stallion Cor de la BRYERE. however, as terrific as Corde is, that is not what Conteders pedigree design is telling us. Contender is said to need a blood type mare. Contender himself tends to throw a heavier type Holstein because his genetic dominance is in Favorit - Loretto. Excerpt from North American sport horse, breeder author, Kathleen Hiney Kirsan.
However, Conteros himself has been more refined from his dam's side.
The book goes onto notate Contender's pedigree is finely tuned with the very best ingredients. This stallion is about perfection - a masterpiece. Contender has kept the important Holstein genetics alive.