Dimaggio Passed Away

Breeding

Hanoverian Breeding News

The Hanoverian breeding stallion and World Young Horse Champion Dimaggio has passed away on Monday morning 14 December 2015. The chestnut stallion was 20 years old and was euthanized following a year-long struggle with laminitis.

Dimaggio was bred in Germany by Ralf Hollwedel and owned by British Suzanne Lavandera (née Davies). He was by Don Primero out of Winnipeg (by World Cup I x Lindberg x Emir).

As a youngster Dimaggio was started by Hans Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen who competed him in the riding horse tests as a 4-year old. The stallion was licensed in 1999 and did his 100-day performance test in Neustadt/Dosse the same year, scoring 113,72 points to finish sixth overall. He was second for dressage with 133.39 points.

Under Suzanne Davies, (Keystone) Dimaggio claimed his first fame in 2000 when he won the World Young Horse Championships in Arnheim, The Netherlands. She trained him up to Intermediaire I level but laminitis cut short the stallion's sport career.

Though he was a fairly popular breeding stallion in the U.K., his real value as a sire became apparent only after he had stood up for stud for several years at Gestut Vorwerk in Germany in the late 2000s and more recently at stallion station Bockmann.

Dimaggio at the 2000 World Young Horse Championships Dimaggio has 305 offspring registered as sport horse in Germany, with 39 competing at S-level and 19 sons licensed (e.g. Del Magico, Demiral, Desiderio, Detroit, Di Magic, Diamo Gold, Dioptas).

Dimaggio's get is highly coveted at auctions. Duke of Britain (by Dimaggio x Rubinstein) sold for 360,000 euro to Victoria Michalke at the 2011 PSI Auction. The licensed stallion Di Magic was the price highlight of the 2011 Oldenburg Autumn Elite Auction in Vechta, Germany, on 1 October 2011 and sold for 240,000 euro to Bernadette Brune from Monaco.

Dimaggio's most successful offspring is the British bred Grand Prix horse Half Moon Delphi, which won team gold with Michael Eilberg at the 2013 European Championships and team silver at the 2014 World Equestrian Games.