Dietrich von Boetticher’s famous Gestut Ammerland is downsizing but not, as reported this week in the German press, out of business altogether. As part of that process, the owner/raider’s neighboring farm on Lake Starnberg, Gestut Bernried, will be closed from the end of May.
A representative for Ammerland said: “It is an official reduction so much, he does not stop breeding. “He sold more fingerlings and reduced his inventory for a number of years. The idea is to reduce activity from about 50 to about a dozen mares. ”
For more than 30 years, von Boetticher has been one of Germany’s elite breeders and has enjoyed great success in the international arena. His Bavarian farm has produced big names such as Classic French double winner and frontrunner Lope De Vega (Ire) (Shamardal), Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Hurricane Run (Ire) winner ) (Montjeu {Ire}), and the German Derby and Boreal (Ger) Coronation Cup Winner (Java Gold). He is also the co-breeder of another Arc winner, Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), with Newsells Park Stud and Coolmore.
Now 80 years old, von Boetticher bought the picturesque Gestut Ammerland racehorse in southern Germany in 1989, a year after winning the German Derby against Luigi (Ger) (Home Guard), the horse. The first race he bought. That same season, von Boetticher also celebrated one of two in the Battle of Preis der Diana (German Oaks) against Alte Zeit (Ger) (Surumu {Ger}) and Britannia (Ger) (Tarim {GB}). The breed later went on to become the basis of his breeding program, producing Boreal and Borgia (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}) (Acatenango {Ger}), winners of both the German Derby and Grosser Preis von Baden in her hometown as well as Hong Binh Kong.
Two of Borgia’s daughters are still among the 17 mares currently listed as comprising the mother hen band Ammerland. The team also includes three half-sisters from Lope De Vega, G1 Prix de Diane Golden Lilac (Ire) winner (Galileo {Ire}), and 4-year-old Wildfeder (GB), Walgdeist’s half-sister.
The owner/breeder has a number of horses that are being trained in Germany with Peter Schiergen and in France with Andre Fabre, including classic participants Sea The Sky (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire} ), a full sister of Sea The Moon (Ger), Safni (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Waldstar (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who is owned by the partnership with Newsells Park Stud. Purebred Baltic Bird Gestut Ammerland (GB) (Frankel {GB}), a great-grandson of Borgia, was set to launch John and Thady Gosden at Leicester on Friday.
Finally, the cessation of breeding at Bernried, home to stallions such as Boreal, Ito (Ger) and Iquitos (Ger), prompted Ronald Rauscher to move to Ireland. The agent and shipper kept 35 of his mares and those of his clients on the farm, including those owned by Dr. Christoph Berglar, breeder of Protectionist International Group 1 winners (Ger) and Novellist (Ger).
“The female macaques will move in the first week of April, and then the mares and ponies will move in early June,” said Rauscher, who will be based in Mallow, Co Cork. “All my clients will be moving out of Bernried to Ireland.”
He added, “I lived in Ireland for 12 years until 1997, so after a 25-year sabbatical, I’ll be back.”
