Congratulations to all riders, breeders and owners of AES horses who are yet again celebrating great successes at the Horse of the Year Show.  In the Grand Stand Media Five Fence Challenge it was time for Holly Smith to shine with her own Hearts Destiny  (Heart Throb x Rabino) who was bred by Stephanie Scott. Joining them in first place was also Helen Thredwell with Sebastian VII , owned by Colin Garratt and bred by Rising Star Investments. Another absolute highlight was to see John Whitaker and his AES Elite stallion  Argento in great form and winning the NAEC Stoneleigh Stakes.  A big well done to everyone!

John Whitaker and Argento have won the 1.55m jump-off class before the GCT Final in Doha. In a sensational jump-off with 21 horses, they bet Maikel Van der Vleuten and Daniel Deusser. The class had 270.000 euro of prize money to split. The day before he ended up in sixth place. And we have more victories to mention from last week. In Luik, Gemmarco (Unbelievable Darco) won the Youngster Tour under the saddle of Nicole Pavitt.  In Oliva, Billy Lemon (Cevin Z) and Alice Watson grabbed another 1.40m and in the Algerian city Mostaganem, Blue Movie (Chacco-Blue) was the winner of a 1.45m class under the saddle of Ronan Willis from Australia. Willis also won the Youngster Tour aboard Shark (Arko III).

The fabulous British superstar rider John Whitaker has won the 400.000 euro Grand Prix at the Athina Onassis Horse Show in Saint-Tropez. He rode three clean rounds aboard the top AES stallion Argento (Arko III) and he edged out the man to beat Christian Ahlmann (Taloubet). Also the AES approved stallion For Joy vh Zorgvliet (For Pleasure) did it all clear, which brought Kevin Staut at place number four.

Kent Farrington won the two main classes in Windsor. John Whitaker was second two times with Argento (Arko III). In the GP also the AES stallion Tripple X III and Tiffany Foster jumped double clear, finishing up in fourth. Also on Friday Argento ended up in second. Johns son Robert Whitaker won on Catwalk, also an AES Elite stallion.

Clare and John Whitaker's famous show jumping stallion  Argento  perfectly encapsulates the Anglo European Studbook's philosophy of creating a modern performance horse from some of the best proven bloodlines. His breeder Keeley Durham showed great vision when she put the at the time relatively unproven Arko to her lovely AES mare  Flora May  and created a piece of magic. But, as always in good breeding, with great judgement and knowledge behind it. For Flora May is by Gasper who goes back to Hugo Simon's stallion Jasper - also known as 'Little One' - who famously did not let his height of a mere 1.62m prevent him from winning one of the most infamous and difficult show jumping competitions in the world, the Hamburg Derby. Argento has inherited Arko's star quality and Jasper's big heart, both of which helped him to win for his rider John Whitaker well over £ 400,000 (or: almost € 540,000) last year alone, adding to his impressive list of now 16 Grand Prix wins. His most notable successes in 2015 include the Longines Grand Prix in Hong Kong, and we know that there is more to come! In July, Argento moved to the top of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses Ranking List in Show Jumping, an excellent achievement demonstrating that British Breeders hold their own at the very top of the field. He is also accredited as Gold British Showjumping Elite Stallion by British Showjumping, based on his Grade A performance winnings and having represented his country on the international stage. Argento passes on his fantastic qualities of perfect jumping technique combined with brilliant attitude and temperament to his offspring. His son  Areba  brings to the table the important blood of Indorado and Nimmerdor, providing an exciting cocktail of proven lines for the discerning breeder. Areba is fully graded and licensed with the AES and certainly one to watch for the future! Argento himself is available for the coming stud season. As an AES Elite Stallion, the AES will offer free foal registrations for all his offspring to encourage the continued performance development of the studbook. We were delighted to present this award to Argento's breeder, Keeley Durham, in recognition of her wonderful achievement and contribution to the Anglo European Studbook and to British Breeding and British Showjumping at large!      

Jessica Mendoza and Spirit T (Tornado) have won the Longines Christmas Cracker, a 1.60m class on Friday night at London Olympia. The AES mare went through the jump-off course half a second faster than Pius Schwizer. Also Argento (Arko III) and John Whitaker realized the double clear. They ended up in sixth after placing second on Thursday in the 1.55m Santa Stakes.

The FEI and WBFSH came with the final lists of the World Ranking for sport horses. AES ranked sixth in the jumping division and eighth in the category eventing. The best AES horse is still John Whitaker’s Argento (Arko III), number four in the individual standings. Also Spirit T (Tornado) of Jessica Mendoza reached the top ten. Molly Malone (Kannan) fell back to spot sixteen after rider Bertram Allen got injured this summer. The AES approved stallion Conrad de Hus (Con Air) of Gregory Wathelet moved up to number five after winning the Furusiyya Finals and silver medal at the European Championship in Aachen.

He’s still one of the best horses in the world. Argento (Arko III), the AES stallion of John Whitaker won the Friday main class 1.50m at Grand Slam Masters in Los Angeles. Edwina Tops-Alexander and Daniel Deusser ended up with a time difference smaller than a second. In the Grand Prix Argento had one down and grabbed eleventh place.

John Whitaker and his AES Stallion Argento  were yet again able to add to their long list of successes by winning the hotly contested  $85,000 Prix Airbus CSI5* last night at the Longines Los Angeles Masters CSI5*. Argento, the 13-year-old Anglo stallion (Arko III x Gasper) was bred by Keeley Durham and is owned by Clare Whitaker. He  continues to occupy the top position in the WBFSH Rankings of Show Jumpers.  This success story is set to continue, as John Whitaker is at Longines for a significant reason: After  winning  the Longines Hong Kong Masters Grand Prix back in February, he is sure to have his eyes on the additional $1,000,000 bonus to be his if he can capture all three grand prix classes of the Masters Grand Slam trio. The third Grand Prix will be at the Paris Masters in December. In the meantime, we wish the all the best of success for Sunday, Friday night's success was certainly a great start! photo: www.noellefloyd.com      

Argento tops the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses World Rankings List. John and Clare Whitaker's brilliant 13-year-old stallion Argento has taken over top spot in the latest World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses world rankings list. The 13-year-old stallion has enjoyed an outstanding season, guided by John's masterful riding, to post a string of impressive performances that includes a grand prix victory in Hong Kong, second places in the Longines Global Champions Tour London and Monaco grand prix, plus a magnificent double clear in stamina-sapping conditions that underpinned Great Britain's FEI Nations Cup triumph in Rome two months ago. After being ranked second last month, Argento (Arko III x Gasper) is now top of the prestigious WBFSH list, heading fellow world-class horses like the Scott Brash-ridden Hello Sanctos, owned by Lord and Lady Harris and Lord and Lady Kirkham, in sixth, while Rolf Goran-Bengtsson's London Global Champions Tour grand prix winner Casall ASK is fourth. Speaking after Argento's second place in London two days ago, John said: "He is on very good form, and I think I'm on quite good form! He jumped great, absolutely superbly." Argento's breeder Keely Durham commented "It is fantastic news for British breeding. I am very proud of Argento, and a big well done to John for getting him there." Source: BS

Rolf Goran Bengtsson & Casall win the GCT in Londen after a jump-off with twelve horses. The Swedish rider finished eight hundredths of a second faster than John Whitaker on Argento (Arko III).

From Knokke to Monaco, AES horses scored well everywhere. Jerome Guery won the Knokke Hippique Porsche GP 1.60m on his AES approved stallion Papillon Z . He edged out Harrie Smolders with 0.25 second and also the Dutch used an AES approved horse. We’re talking about Don VHP Z . In Monaco the AES approved and registered stallion Argento placed second with John Whitaker on the Global Champions Tour. Scott Brash won it, again… In Hickstead Billy Lemon won one class 1.50m on Saturday with Alice Watson from Great-Britain.

The British team wins also the Furusiyya Nations Cup of Rome, only two weeks after they grabbed the cup in La Baule. This time the team was composed of three Whitakers and two of them jumped on an AES approved stallion. John Whitaker went double clear on Argento , the AES born stallion by Arko III. Robert Whitaker just had one down in the second round on Catwalk (Colman) of Clare Whitaker and Mandy Hall. Michael Whitaker just picked up one time penalty over the two rounds. Nevertheless the class didn’t start so well with twelve points of the first rider Holly Gillot (Dougie Douglas). Luckily he was able to get things right in the second round, which he jumped clean! The world champions of the Netherlands were second. On Sunday the AES mare Zoe II (Kannan) won a 1.45m class under the saddle of Lorenzo de Luca.

The AES stallion Argento (Arko III) tops the Hippomundo Rankings, based on internationally won prize money since January 1, 2015. John Whitaker won the GP of Hong Kong in February on the stallion. Fibonacci (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) is in second spot. Also on three is an AES horse, named Diva II (Ben Maher). AES also tops the studbook list. We don’t have the biggest number of horses, but our horses collect more prize money on average than any other studbook in the world!

Last night saw Ben Maher and the British Bred 10 year-old chestnut mare  Diva II , owned by Tatiana Korsakova,  clinch a brilliant win over Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum to secure the €372,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix in Wellington, Florida by just a fraction of a second. This big achievement made the combination rise to a spectaculair 4th place in the HorseTelex Results rankings which are still led by Argento and John Whitaker. ​ The final combination to come forward in the jump off, it had looked like Meredith couldn’t be beaten but Ben, who put his foot on the accelerator from the start, managed to break the finish line in a time of 46.03 seconds.  This was just enough to relegate Meredith, the first of the three to go in the final round, into second place with her time of 46.31 seconds.   Laura Kraut for the USA took third place with her longstanding partner Cedric. With such huge prize money at stake there wasn't an empty seat in the grandstands at this superb venue which seemed all the more atmospheric with this major competition being played out under spotlights.  Alan Wade from Ireland was the course designer that had tested the riders to the hilt, hitting the note perfectly in terms of giving the spectators a thrilling class with it having culminated in a three way jump off from a field of just over forty. Talking afterwards Ben commented  “It was a pretty quick turnaround for me. I was second from the end so Diva did not have much time to recover from the first round.  The jump off was probably my best ever round on Diva, She’s come a long way this circuit”. Source: British Showjumping

Last weekends victory in Hong Kong by John Whitaker and his AES bred ELITE stallion Argento made the combination rise to the very top of the Horsetelex Results Rankings. With the incredible amount of €247.706 earned prize money in only six shows since the 1th of January 2015 this makes an unbelievable average of €41.284 earned per show. Second on the list is the Holsteiner gelding Carlo 273 with €135.479 earned. 12 th on the list is the AES approved stallion Romanov with a total of €67.042 followed by the AES registered mare DIVA II on the 13 th place with €65.811 earned. Molly Mallone V is on the 21th place with €46.862 total prize money earned since January 2015. The Anglo European Studbook is ranked 6 th on the studbook rankings with a total of €503.709 prize money earned with only 90 competing horses. This makes an average of €5.596 for each horse, the highest average of any other studbook! On the first place of the studbook rankings is the KWPN with a total of €1.288.891 prize money earned, they however needed 1112 competing horses to reach this amount which gives an average of €1.159

John Whitaker and Argento (Arko III) also win the Longines Hong Kong Masters on Sunday, after they topped the field yesterday in the Gucci stakes. Just like yesterday, seven pairs jumped double clear. Whitaker this time edged out Henrik von Eckermann (Gotha) and Timothee Anciaume (Ryan des Hayettes).

The Anglo European Studbook closes the WBFSH ranks at place six. We are the only studbook with three horses in the top fifteen. We’re talking then about Molly Malone V (Kannan), Blue Angel (Luidam) and Argento (Arko III) , the horses of Bertram Allen, Kent Farrington and John Whitaker. These horses stand at places eleven, twelve and thirteen after a year full of top results and several victories. The breeders of the golden three of AES are Keith Doyle, Vikki Gosling and Keeley Durham. Congratulations to them.

AES Horses jumped to second and third place during the Leading Horse of the Year GP in Birmingham. Six horses reached the jump off. French rider Julien Epaillard (Cristallo) won by jumping the only double clear. John Whitaker, second placed almost all week in Birmingham, just missed out the victory touching one pole in the second round. He placed second on Argento , just as on Friday. Abdel Saïd (Dakota) was allocated the same score, but ended up seconds slower than Whitaker. The Egyptian placed third on a mare he bought at the Eurocommerce online auction. Both horses Argento and Dakota, on the podium at HOYS, have an AES registration. No victory on Sunday, but on Saturday the 1.60m win went to one of our horses. It was Nicole Pavitt who caught the cup in the Accumulator class aboard her top horse Victor Blue (My Bjorn). Fourth place went to Jessica Mendoza ( Spirit T ).

No class passes by at Horse of the Year Show in Birmingham without a AES horse in the top of the standings. Yesterday nights main class, the 1.50m Grand Stand Trophy, was won by Trevor Breen, with John Whitaker and Argento ( Arko III ) in second position. We bet this pair will be back there in the top of the ranks on Sunday night at Leading Horse of the Year GP. Sixth placed in the Grandstand Trophy was Abdel Saïd on Dakota ( Heartbreaker ), also AES registered. In the Five Fence Challenge Lauren Edwards ended up in fourth equal after reaching the second jump-off thanks to her AES horse Calcourt Falklund ( Oklund ), born by Aisla Jones and owned by Beverley Widdowson. Yesterday morning in the Horse Radar Stakes, a speed class at 1.45m, John Whitaker finished up on top of Nicole Pavitt with AES horse Victor Blue (My Bjorn). Robert Whitaker placed fifth aboard Mon Ame II ( Caretano Z ) after jumping clean. Also at the first day of the international competition AES had two top five placings with Joe Whitaker (Lola V, by Locarno ) on four and Lauren Edwards (Calcourt Falklund) on five at 1.50m. 

With Molly Malone ( Kannan ), Blue Angel (Luidam) and Argento ( Arko III ), AES delivered the numbers 11, 12 and 13 of the final WBFSH/FEI World Ranking for show jumping horses 2014. Our studbook is number six overall, on just a little distance of the top five. Also Andrea (37), her full brother Vampire (84) and good old Tinka’s Serenade (148) gained points for our studbook. 

Not the GP at Saturday, but a 1.55m class with jump-off on Sunday was the last class of the Global Champions Tour contest in Lausanne, Switzerland. Abdullah Al Sharbatly from Saoudi Arabia jumped to victory in it aboard the chestnut mare Andrea ( Marome ), bred by Gert-Jan Bruggink.  The AES approved stallion Romanov ( Hearbreaker ) placed third with Bertram Allen. In the Global Champions Tour GP yesterday John Whitaker and Argento ( Arko III ) just missed out the win, ending up in second position, behind Ludger Beerbaum and Chaman.

At the Glock’s Performance Center in the Austian city Treffen, John Whitaker has won the Grand Prix in the saddle of Argento , his AES stallion by Arko III . Argento jumped fast and clear in the jump-off, which provided him a cheque of 112.500 euro, which is more than what you win in a regular Global Champions Tour GP. Gaston Glock’s show proved to be one of the most prestigious shows of the world, with top riders, horses and top brands represented. Daniel Deusser (First Class) placed second), Malin Baryard-Johnson (Tornesch) third.   Marcus Ehning won the Youngster final aboard the AES approved stallion Again du Toultia (Mr. Blue) of Fabien Schreiber.