Scottish stallions get seal of approval

Virtual Village Calvaro FCS and Virtual Village Tornedo FCS, owned by First Choice Stallions, the business run by Scotland’s Gillespie brothers and Olympic show jumper Michael Whitaker, have been approved by the Scottish Sport Horse.

Rob van Overbeek, an international stallion inspector from the KWPN in Holland, said: “these stallions left a positive impression and they are both outstanding in pedigree and performance. Calvaro (Caletto I-Capitol) was ridden by Jos Lansink before being imported by First Choice Stallions and competed with Michael Whitaker at the 1999 European Championships before being taken over by Michael’s brother John for the Sydney Olympics, where he produced the best British performance.

Tornedo(Darco-Ramiro) is an eight-year-old who finished runner up in the 1999 Horse & Hound foxhunter final with Gary Gillespie.

He won the Thomas Bates Seven- and Eight- Year-Old Championships at Wembley last year, ridden by Billy Twomey and finishedsecond for Whitaker in his first World Cup qualifier in Mechelen in January.

For more details contact the stud: (tel: 01236 830992)

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