What makes the New Zealand warmblood special? 

The short answer is – the New Zealand thoroughbred. 

The thoroughbred has long been used to introduce athleticism, lightness, sensitivity and rideability into the modern sport horse.  

Bred for racing, thoroughbred breeders have continually selected for these traits by breeding winners with winners (i.e., continually crossing athleticism with more athleticism).

Statistically New Zealand thoroughbreds really punch above their weight in terms of winners from starters and the number of stakes winners produced from single families.  New Zealand bred racehorses are renowned for their quality and soundness and they adapt well to a range of racing environments around the world.  

New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing tells us that New Zealand bred racehorses won 22 per cent of Group One races in Australia in the 2022 season from only 8 per cent of the runners. 

While adding ‘blood’ to your warmbloods continues to be an important goal in breeding top performing sport horses, the individual counts.  

For too long sport horse breeders in New Zealand have not given the thoroughbred the recognition or consideration that it deserves in their mating choices.  Sport horse breeders may have thought that any available thoroughbred mare would do, without considering the genetic match for their chosen stallions and/or the preferred discipline that the offspring would be used for.  This lack of thought is reflected in our warmblood stud books with many thoroughbred mares being recorded as ‘unknown’ or ‘unnamed’.  

This approach fails to recognise that New Zealand has some exceptional and proven thoroughbred families and unique bloodlines which are strong contributors to the success of the New Zealand thoroughbred in international racing.  Selective breeding with these families to top warmblood stallions would likely prove equally successful for sport horse breeding.  

It’s time for warmblood breeders to deliberately tap into this gene pool and select the best individuals based on productivity of the individual’s family (and, if selecting a mare, the strike rate of mares producing top performers through the dam’s line).  

It’s also worth taking into account which thoroughbred lines breed well for what discipline.  

In time it will no doubt be possible to identify the genetic code linked to the attributes which breeders are seeking to replicate in their sport horses through selective introductions of thoroughbred blood.  In the meantime, we rely on a good knowledge of pedigrees and their potency. 

We will focus on this more closely over the coming months, providing feature stories on particular breeding lines used in successful sport horse breeding but here are some key New Zealand thoroughbred families that should never be overlooked: 

Broodmare sires:  

• Sovereign Edition XX
• Sir Tristram XX
• Sound Reason XX
• Pompeii Court XX
• Vice Regal XX 
• Zabeel XX 
• O’Reilly XX
• Tavistock XX
• Savabeel XX
• Van Nistelrooy XX

Sires who produce good jumpers:  

• Brilliant Invader XX 
• Kaapstad XX 
• Grosvenor XX 
• His Royal Highness XX 
• Torquay XX
• Viking Ruler XX

Highly productive female families:  

• Eight Carat XX and any of her daughters including Diamond Lover XX and Tristalove XX 
• Hula Bend XX, Hula Dance XX etc etc.  (the Hula Family)
• Belle Fox XX, Star Belle XX, Imperial Belle XX etc etc. (the Belle Family) 
• The Grin XX and any of her daughters 

With access to the best stallions in Europe through frozen semen, there has never been a better opportunity for New Zealand warmblood breeders to create world leading performance horses using our fantastic quality thoroughbred lines to maintain unique rideability and athleticism in our breed.