Enjoy one of Warmblood Stallions of North America’s more popular Foundation Friday posts! Every other Friday we will be featuring a foundation sire – one who has been influential in the development of warmblood breeds. We pull from the incredible archive of The Horse Magazine, published by Chris Hector of Australia. Thank you, Chris, for permission to draw on your expertise!
163 cm
Chestnut
Breeder: E. Börger
Lugano van la Roche has been one of the pillars of Belgian breeding, bringing the rich legacy of Hannover with him.His sire, Lugano I, was an extremely successful sire in Hanover, and one of the best sons of the Thoroughbred Der Lowe, but the mare lines are rich in the history of the Hanoverian.
On Lugano van la Roche’s pedigree we find at least five crosses of Alderman from the A line, founded by the Thoroughbred Adeptus, who bred in Hanover from 1884 to 1904.
The line may originate with a Thoroughbred, but we can see how quickly the influence of the local mares comes through in the shape of Alfenflug II who appears twice on the stallion’s pedigree. [Click on the link towards the bottom of this post to read the full article, which includes a photo of Alfenflug II.]
Lugano van la Roche’s pedigree also feature three crosses of another hero from the Hanoverian past, Feiner Kerl from the F line, which goes back to Zemeboq, a Thoroughbred son who came from Pomerania and stood in the mid 1800s. According to Ludwig Christmann’s celebrated, and much studied, paper on the Hanoverian bloodlines:
“The line really began with his great-grandson Flingarth. who stood in the Verden area, 1909-1912, producing about 14 licensed sons. His best son was Fling, (1913-22), and all existing F-line horses go back to Fling. The line was separated into the “F” and ‘W” lines according to the two Fling sons Fiener Kerl and Flavius: as of 1989, all stallions licensed in that year and going back to Feiner KerI belong to the F-line; all going back to Flavius form the W-line.”
“Feiner KerI stood in Altenbrugge, and when he died the breeders put up a memorial to him because in his time (1922-43) he had the biggest influence on the Hanoverian breed, producing 114 licensed sons.”
The other Hanoverian hero to feature is Detektiv, whose D-line goes back to a Thoroughbred stallion Devil’s Own XX, standing from 1894-1906. Detektiv was his most important son, and all D-line stallions today go back to Detektiv, who stood from 1926-1943. The line then split, with the main branch being from the Detectiv son Dolman and a small branch from the son, Dwinger – both of whom contribute to Lugano van la Roche.
Dwinger’s son Diskant sired the famous jumper Deister, one of the most remarkable horses ever produced in Hannover. Ridden by Paul Schockemohle, Deister was the European Jumping Champion three times in a row and won 1.5 million German marks. The line lives on today not through its jumping prowess, but through the Donnerhall dressage dynasty.
Lugano van la Roche was one of the founding stallions of the Belgian Warmblood breed. He sired 10 graded sons, of whom Darco, Lundi de Paques and Luxus competed internationally in show jumping and Gagliano competed in international dressage. He also sired a further 12 international showjumpers including the top horses Traxdata La Ina, Isaura van de Helle and Bollvorm’s Egano. He ended up with a ranking of 5th in the WBFSH list for sires of international showjumpers in 1995.
To read the entire article, with pedigree, details of Lugano’s sons and daughters, on the Horse Magazine website, click here.
There are several stallion descendants of Lugano van la Roche in North America. Click on the following links to read about each of the ones on WarmbloodStallionsNA.com:
Superstar Approved son of Darco
Elite BWP Stallion
BWP Ambassador
