Tuesday, January 19
Argento's Breeder Keeley Durham Honoured with the AES Prize at the British Breeders' Awards Dinner in London
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!
Elite Stallion
