2022 WBFSH Sire Rankings Announced

The World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) is delighted to share the 2022 WBFSH Stallions of the Year!

Among the dressage stallions, we see a return of Johnson to first position and welcome Quaterback who has been in the top 10 ranked sires just below the top 3 for several years. In 3rd place comes Sir Donnerhall, up from 4th place in 2021.

For the eventing stallions, last Grafenstolz continues to rank highly and is now in 2nd position. Obos Quality made another year-on-year step up and is now in 3rd place. The new leader of the eventing sires is Diarado, up from 2nd position in 2021.

Among the showjumping sires, the top two places remain again unchanged, with Chacco-Blue remaining the leading sire, followed by Diamant de Semilly taking second place. Joining the top 3 showjumping sires for the first time is Mylord Carthago in 3rd place.

2022 Dressage Sires: 

No 1 - JOHNSON (KWPN) 
No 2 - QUATERBACK (BRAND)
No 3 - SIR DONNERHALL (OLDBG)

2022 Jumping Sires: 

No 1 - CHACCO-BLUE (MECKL) 
No 2 - DIAMANT DE SEMILLY (SF)
No 3 - MYLORD CARTHAGO (SF)

2022 Eventing Sires: 

No 1 - DIARADO (HOLST) 
No 2 - GRAFENSTOLZ (TRAK)
No 3 - OBOS QUALITY 04 (OLDBG)

As always, the WBFSH Sire Rankings are calculated and fully verified with the FEI performance data, providing an excellent indicator of the achievements of certain bloodlines in performance breeding. The big take-away message from this year’s rankings is the endurance of quality and reliability in certain bloodlines that come through again and again in producing the world’s best horses.

We certainly see this confirmed in the showjumping sires, where there is very little change in the top places, with Chacco-Blue continuing his astonishing run at the very top since 2017! New to the top 3 is Mylord Carthago who made great leaps up the rankings in recent years, from 25th position in 2018 to 10th in 2019 and 4th in 2020 and 2021. Behind every great stallion there is also a great mother, and Mylord Carthago is certainly no exception, having produced no fewer than 10 international Grand Prix level showjumpers, as well as being the grandmother of countless more. We remember this stallion fondly from his promising performances at our FEI – WBFSH World Breeding Championships in Lanaken as a young horse, and it is marvellous that he has moved on to achieve great things in breeding and for the sport!

Similar to showjumping, the top sires in the eventing categories are firm and well-known favourites. Obos Quality has featured in the top 10 and very close to the top 3 places for several years, and we are delighted to welcome him to 3rd position this year. His pedigree offers a proven combination of the great Selle Francais stallion Quick Star on a German mare family, making overall for quite a low percentage of thoroughbred blood of 27.54%. Bred by Paul Schockemöhle, he was sold to Ireland as a four-year-old. Among his many successful offspring we count eventers such as MGH Grafton Street, Class Affair and Artful Trinity, but also exceptional showjumpers like ABC Quantum Cruise.

The discipline with the most changes in the rankings this year has been dressage. While Johnson continues to dominate and has returned to first rank, we welcome Quaterback in second position and Sir Donnerhall in 3rd. Sir Donnerhall, of course, brings the blood of the great Sandro Hit who was our top ranking dressage sire in 2021. He had recently risen from 14th position in 2020 to 4th position in 2021, and continues to be a highly regarded progenitor of quality, and particularly also as an excellent dam sire. Quaterback has been just below the top 3 ranking dressage sires for some time. From the motherline of the famous Poetin, he is another example demonstrating that great mothers make great sons. Above all, he has been a progenitor not only of performance, but also of type, with over 70 licensed sons across the world.

This autumn, our sire rankings will also be made available in a new, more interactive format following the imminent launch of new features on our WBFSH website.

Watch out for new ways to search the data and find out about the latest stallion trends across the world!