SIRE: Benicio

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In October 2007, the stud, Callaho, traveled to the Hanoverian stallion licensing in Germany to find a Bellisimo M colt with which to bolster their dressage breeding program having been extremely impressed by the sons and track record of this exciting sire. At his 30-day stallion performance test in Zweibrucken (2002), Bellisimo cast a shadow over his peers with a final dressage score of 9.63, the highest ever awarded to a stallion at the time. He then went on to win the 4yr old Bundeschampionate in Warendorf. His first foal crop yielded eleven licensed sons and the reserve and champion mares at the German nationals.

Licensing Champion by Benicio x Don Diamond sold for a whopping 630,000 euros at the 2021 German Sport Horse Stallion Licensing.

After 3 days of rigorous screening in Verden, Callaho settled on catalogue No 3, a liver chestnut with flashy white markings. Although still immature, they were convinced by Benicio's excellent basic paces and an exemplary, if unfashionable, dam-line. His mother, St.Pr.Valencia, was reserve champion mare in Germany in 2002 and also produced the champion foal (Benicio's full brother) of the German Foal Championships.  Damsire, Velten Third, was an International dressage competitor himself and his sire in turn, Velten Sohn, was the most successful dressage stallion of his day and competed at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

After his licensing, Benicio was taken to South Africa. Two years later, however, having been convinced by the high quality of his foals and his extraordinary potential for advanced level dressage, Callaho returned him to Germany to be professionally trained by Anna-Sofie Fiebelkorn for sport and to earn his full breeding approval for the Hanoverian Studbook.

The rest is History. This remarkable partnership elevated Benicio out of nowhere to win the 2011 German Bundeschampionate for the six year old dressage horses and the Stallion Performance Test at Schliekau with perfect 10's for walk, trot and canter. His final score for the dressage section, 9.88, superseded even that of his father and is the highest score ever achieved in the history of the stallion performance test. With these scores, combined with his faultless rideability and character, this incomparable stallion has captivated the European dressage and breeding community.