When Joop van Uytert first saw Bordeaux, the KWPN dressage stallion by United out of a Gribaldi mare, as an 18-month-old in a paddock, he immediately took note.
“I remember it well,” reminisces Joop, who has raised youngsters for the Lisman family – the breeders of Bordeaux – for many years.
“There was a small bay that possessed extraordinary movements – that turned out to be Bordeaux.
“The first moment I saw him in the paddock, he was a horse that packaged his stride so effortlessly and had a smooth flowing topline, showing ample technique and interconnection between his forehand and hindquarters, which also emerged in training.”
Bordeaux went on to become champion of the 2009 KWPN stallion licensing and winner of the performance test in Ermelo, where he impressed judges with his ability to collect and extend, while staying supple and connected. He wasn’t just a flashy mover – he had mechanics, elasticity and trainability.
Born in 2006, Bordeaux stands 1.70m and today ranks ninth on the WBFSH dressage sire list. In 2023, he was awarded the prestigious Preferent title – KWPN’s highest honour for a breeding stallion.
Dressage stallion Bordeaux in competition
Eva Möller, then riding for Hof Kasselmann and Schockemöhle/PSI, who co-owned Bordeaux with Joop van Uytert, trained Bordeaux from a young age and produced him up the levels.
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Bordeaux made a lasting impression, and out of the thousands of horses she has ridden in her illustrious career, he remains one of her favourites.
“The first time I rode him was at the Schockemöhle stallion show when he was three,” she recalled.
“I had to go in with Edward Gal on Bordeaux’s father, United, and Bordeaux was so good to ride. I didn’t know him, and he was totally green, but I was so in love with that horse right away.
“He was easy to train up, with an outstanding talent for piaffe and passage. He was not stallion-like; he was really concentrated. It was so easy to teach him all the tempis.”
Though he received significant purchase offers, his owners kept him with Eva until 2016, when she and her husband Ulf moved to Helgstrand Dressage.
Bordeaux continued competing, transitioning next to Norway’s Isabel Freese, who stepped him up to international grand prix with starts in Austria, Germany and at the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg.
Bordeaux’s role as a sire
As a sire, Bordeaux has stamped his name all over the top levels of the sport. His offspring include Bohemian, who scored 90% with Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, Carl Hester’s European team gold and Olympic bronze medal-winning ride Fame, and Bluetooth, who boasts more than 20 international grand prix wins with Frederic Wandres.
He’s not just producing top-level performers – he’s creating breeding stallions too. Bordeaux is the sire of Ferdeaux, ridden to PSG by Hans Peter Minderhoud; Merlot VDL, top scorer in the 2021 KWPN performance test; and Le Formidable, the 2019 KWPN licensing champion.
Other notable sons include Johnny Depp, winner of the 2019 Pavo Cup, and Livius, 2019 KWPN spring test champion.
Carl Hester describes Bordeaux as a phenomenon: “He almost has a Guinness Book of World Records appeal for the number of grand prix horses he’s produced – from a range of mares. What it all boils down to is one thing: that he’s given them all a work ethic to be grand prix, whatever their shape and size.
“My grand prix horse Fame’s best quality is his Duracell battery work ethic, which I see when I look at the others by Bordeaux.”
That mindset runs in the blood. Bordeaux’s pedigree is steeped in dressage greatness. His sire, United, posted the highest mark ever awarded at the time at his stallion performance test in Ermelo and is by the legendary Krack C, who competed internationally with Anky van Grunsven.
Bordeaux’s dam line descends from the famous De Baey line, which produced multiple Olympic gold medallists, including Rembrandt and Ahlerich, as well as the foundational stallion Rubinstein.
Now in retirement from sport, Bordeaux enjoys a well-managed routine at Joop’s stable: walker in the morning, covering every other day during summer, and paddock time in the afternoons.
“He has a wonderful life,” Joop said. “We see traits of United and Krack C in him. He passes on beautiful usage of the front leg, a great mindset and super rideability. He’s a magnificent horse, and he’ll stay here with us until the very end.”
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).
