The legendary Oldenburg foundation sire Figaro passed away on May 24, 2000. This is a tragic loss for the Oldenburger verband which lost two of its best stallions, Figaro and Rubinstein I, within two weeks.
Oldenburg connoisseur and chief editor of the Oldenburger Sportpferd magazine Jan Toenjes explains:
"Figaro was a lifetime legend in the Oldenburg breed. The last "purebred" Oldenburg was sired by the Anglo-Norman Futuro (by Furioso xx). Figaro's dam Veilchenate by Goerz was one of the last mares of the old coach horse type to be used for breeding in the early 1970s. The chestnut, born in 1972, was awarded with the "Oldenburg champion stallion" title in 1976. He sired Grand Prix competition horses for both show jumping (Figaro's Boy/Ludger Beerbaum) and Flower/John Whitaker) and dressage (Aleppo (Argentinus x Figaro) and Rainier (Ronaldo x Figaro).
Figaro sired multiple Bundeschampionate winners like Figaro's Lady (later sold at the Vechta auction for DM 100.000 - which was a spectacular price in the early 80s) or Frauenfreund - a promising Grand Prix mount that accidentally died. His son Formidable (Figaro x Inschallah) ridden by Markus Gribbe of Wasserburg/Inn was the only horse to beat Anthony FRH as a 5-year-old at the Bundeschampionate in Munich in the first qualification. Waldelefe (Figaro x Tin Rocco) made it to the Nurnberger Burgpokal finals 1999 ridden by Hiltrud Mohrmann. Figaro was only approved for the Oldenburg Verband - in the past years he was in the lead in the "old sires" section of the FN breed statistics. Figaro had to be put down because of his age, he sired 5 approved sons and 228 registered Oldenburg broodmares of which 46 received the state premium title.
More information on Figaro and Rubinstein's death will be published in the Oldenburger Sportpferd magazine.
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Image copyrighted: Werner Ernst