IMPLANTED EMBRYO CONTAGIO X PENELOPE VAN 'T RUYTERSHOF

ABOUT

Contagio, the clear-round machine of Lars and Gerrit Nieberg, has more than left his mark on all levels. For years, he jumped with both father Lars and son Gerrit at the highest level and won, among others, the Grand Prix of Frankfurt and the Nations Cup in Uggerhalne. Contagio always wanted to jump clear and was helped by his great canter and intelligence. His talent comes as no surprise. He is a son of Colman, a monumental stallion who has more than earned his spurs in breeding. Colman's offspring are remarkably elastic and jump with power and bascule. It is one of the best devolving stallions of the last decades of Holsteiner breeding. His offspring have already earned more than 2.7 million euros in prize money and more than 145 of his offspring are jumping at 1m40 level and higher. L.B. Convall jumped with Philipp Weishaupt to the top of the legendary competitions in Aachen and Spruce Meadows. Catwalk, Cooper, Con Dios III and Zapria are also resounding names on the 5* circuit. Contagio's dam, Odysee II, is a daughter of the recently deceased Lordanos and Hirana. Hirana is a full sister of Cassius 58, (1m50 with Wesley Heijdens) and is mother of the 1m45 horse Toulouse B. Furthermore, she is closely related to Utopia 48, who was present several times in the prize giving of 5* 1M60 Grand Prix's, of Stardust (1m45), Quainton Labyrinth (1m60) and of Clueso 5 (1m60).

The offspring of Contagio are gradually surpassing the performances of their father. Contagio has only been used very little for breeding, but already a remarkably large number of his descendants perform at 1m45 level or higher. Some of them already broke through on a 5* 1m60 level, such as Best Man II (Henrik Von Eckermann), Contagious (who jumped double clear in Spruce Meadows and is delegated to the Olympic Games under McLain Ward), Con Taggio (Beezie Madden - 2nd GP Wellington and CSIO Rotterdam), Cipetto 2 (Yannick Jorand - 2nd WC Rabat), Cessna 24 (Georgina Bloomberg - 9th GP Wellington), Coby 8 (Philippe Weishaupt - 1st WC Riyadh and GP Stockholm) and Catch Me Imperio Egipcio (Holger Wulschner - 1st GP Wiesbaden).

They are all modern sport horses that stand out because of their intelligence, jumping ability and performance drive. Those qualities can only add great value to one of the world's most legendary dam lines, namely that of Penelope Van 't Ruytershof. The suffix of Penelope already suggests a lot, but we would like to elaborate a little further.

The 4th mother of Penelope is the Carthago-daughter Carthina Z. Carthina has left her mark all over the world by means of the elaborate series of successful sporthorses she has produced. Her first foal, a daughter of Diamant de Semilly which she gave at the age of 3, was immediately a hit. Diamanthina grew out to be the successful 1m60 horse of Niels Bruynseels. Soon after, her full brother Emerald followed. That stallion jumped at the Olympics and the World Equestrian Games and achieved, among others, the following results: CSI5*-W Bordeaux, 2° CSI5* LGCT Cannes, 2nd CSI-W World cup Final Paris, 2nd CSI5* GCT Doha, 3rd Nations Cup, 3rd CSI5* S'Hertogenbosch, 4th CSI5* GCT/GCL Rome, 5° CSIO5*-NC Final, Barcelona, 1st CSI5* GCT/GCL Chantilly, 2nd CSI5* Versailles, 4th CSI5* GCT/GCL Miami FL 4th CSI5* GCT/GCL London, 6th CSI5 * GCT/GCL Valkenswaard, 6th CSI5* GCT/GCL Miami FL, 2nd World Cup Final Gothenburg, Olympic Games Rio: Individual + Team final, 1st Nations Cup Rotterdam, 3rd CSIO5* Rotterdam, and so on. Besides a glorious sports career, Emerald is also very successful in breeding. He is sire of, among others, Igor, Jaguar VD Berghoeve , Jeunesse van het Paradijs, Ilias Van 't Vlasmeer, I m Special De Muze, Orphea HQ, Newberry Balia, Nikka VD Bisschop, and so on.

Also other descendants of Carthina Z, such as Fragile Van 't Meulenhof, Ilusionata Van 't Meulenhof, L'innocence Van 't Meulenhof and the only 8-year-old Nixon Van 't Meulenhof grew up to 1m60 level. Besides her sporting career, Diamanthina has managed to match her mother's performance in breeding.  Her sons Herald Van 't Ruytershof, Kentucky Van 't Ruytershof and Le Blue Diamond Van 't Ruytershof are well on their way to surpass the sport performances of their mother. Recently Le Blue Diamond won a 1m55 class during the Global Champions Tour of Valkenswaard and he jumped in the Nations Cup in Rotterdam.

Also grandsons Jilbert Van 't Ruytershof and Pegase van 't Ruytershof are doing remarkably well. Under Constant Van Paesschen, Jilbert jumped among others to victory during the Global Champions Tour in Monte Carlo. Pegase van 't Ruytershof has been the favorite at the stallion competitions and selections in recent years. The son of Comme Il Faut jumped into the limelight several times and is sought after by breeders, which earned him the Young Stallion Award and makes him often referred to as the promise of his generation. No less than 8 of Diamanthina's grandchildren are currently active in the 1m45 and higher classes.

That this lineage continues to confirm its sportiness is also shown by the performances of Brillianthina van 't Ruytershof. Under Elise Van den Branden, daughter of breeder Bert Van den Branden, she jumped to 1m40 level just like her daughter and the mother of Penelope, Lieberthina van 't Ruytershof.  Brillianthina van 't Ruytershof is (next to Lieberthina) also dam of Mercy Van't Ruytershof (1m50) and the Gemini son Pegasus van 't Ruytershof.

Both the sire and grandsire of Penelope, respectively Comme il Faut and Plot Blue, jumped to enormous successes under the guidance of Marcus Ehning. Comme il Faut descends directly from 2 great names, namely Cornet Obolensky and Ratina Z. During his sporting career, he already jumped to 12 victories at 5* 1m60 level and was allowed to participate in the prize-giving ceremony of a 1m45 to 1m60 high class 87 times.

With Plot Blue Marcus Ehning was part of the bronze team at the European Championships in Windsor in 2009. In addition to numerous Grand Prix, they won the World Cup Final in Geneva and in 2011 followed it up with team gold at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. In 2015 the duo said goodbye to the sport under a standing ovation.

Are you already dreaming about coming up with a name for this foal? 'The Best of The Best' might be a suggestion.

This embryo is not insured! The broodmare still has to be paid to the seller, in the amount of 3000 euros, on top of the 2500 euro deposit. This deposit will be returned to the buyer when the broodmare is returned in good condition to the seller. 

PEDIGREE

Contiago	Colman	Carthago
		Rosenquarz
	Odysse II	Lordanos
		Hirana
Penelope van't Ruytershof	Comme Il Faut	Cornet Obolensky
		Ratina Z
	Liberthina van 't Ruytershof	Plot Blue
		Brillianthina van 't Ruytershof