Caretano Z

Caretano was bred in Germany at Manfred Birchler’s BB-stables in Bilten and was registered with the Holstein studbook. His sire is Caretino, who is a son of Caletto II, one of the three products of Cor de la Bryère out of Deka {by Consul}. The Caletto brothers (full brothers} have considerable influence in Holstein and Studbook Zangersheide breeding, in spite of the zig-zagging career of I and the tragically brief life of II. The eldest, Caletto I, started his career as a stallion in 1978 at studfarm Vornholz in Westfalia; he was not recognized by that studbook and only covered a few mares, but nevertheless produced a licensed stallion, Cartusch (dam’s sire Romanow}. Caletto I was bought back by the Holstein studbook and was stationed at Elmshorn in 1979. An accident when serving a mare seemed to put an end to his career as breeding stallion. Then he was started in the sport by Michael Rüping from 1980 to 1985, when he proved to be able to resume his breeding activities. His offspring is remarkable, both in the sport and in breeding. He sired Cantus (dam’s sire Roman} who has two licensed sons himself (Come On and Cascavelle} and produced famous sport horses such as Calvaro V, Come On and Callao W. He has more licensed sons in Holstein, but he is above all sire of Calvaro Z (dam’s sire Capitol I}, 13th in the 96/97 world-ranking under Jos Lansink and probably the best breeding stallion of Studfarm Zangersheide at the moment.

Caletto II died as a 6-yr-old in 1984, after having bred for only three seasons. Nevertheless he put his stamp on Holstein breeding and elsewhere. He has six excellent licensed sons in Holstein, one of which is Caretino. Besides Caretano, Caretino produced three further licensed sons, namely Casino (dam’s sire Carneval} and in the Netherlands Careful (dam’s sire Calypso II} and Hidden Creek’s Cheerful (dam’ sire Fabulus}. At the moment Caletto II has seven International sport horses in the WBFSH ranking, including Olympic champion Classic Touch (dam’s sire Landgraf I} and Operette La Silla (dam’s sire Raimond}. Caletto II is also sire of Calvin Z (out of the same dam as Cantus} who served for one season in Germany and who was bought by Studfarm Zangersheide in 1995.


he dam of Caretano is Bravo and she carries the blood of Ramiro Z from two sides in her pedigree as well as that of the top-class showjumping-horse progenitor Landgraf I. Bravo’s sire is Reichsgraf, a son of Rinaldo (by Ramiro Z } out of Ophelia (by Landgraf I}. Bravo’s dam is Ofarim and she is a daughter of Rasputin (by Ramiro Z } out of Holle, who is a daughter of the Thoroughbred Tin Rod xx and granddam on the female side of Ramiro Z.

In 2000 Caretano Z made his splendid International debut. Under Jos Lansink this Holstein stallion won, for example, the qualifier for the ’Sires of the World’ in Kiel and he came second in the Leige Grand Prix.

When died so early it was a huge loss to both the sport and the world of showjumping breeding