Sire of world’s top dressage horse dies ‘unexpectedly’

Easy Game, the stallion who sired the current world number one dressage horse TSF Dalera BB, has died. He was 20 years old.

Easy Game’s owner Joop van Uytert confirmed that the stallion, who was named Trakehner stallion of the year in 2021, “sadly passed away completely unexpectedly on Monday 10 July”.

By Gribaldi out of the Schwadroneur mare Evita XII, Easy Game is best known for siring TSF Dalera BB, the now 16-year-old mare who carried Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl to double Olympic gold in 2021, as well as triple European Championship gold later that year.

Dalera also won back-to-back World Cup titles with Jessica, in 2022 and 2023, and has been announced as among the entries for the host nation and defending champion team Germany for this year’s Europeans.

Also among Easy Game’s star offspring is Hermes NOP, who was ridden by Dinja van Liere to double individual bronze for the Netherlands at the 2022 World Dressage Championships. Dinja has described Easy Games’s death as “so very sad”.

Easy Game was bred in the Netherlands by Flip and Jikkie Willemsen, and was bought by Joop van Uytert as a young horse. He competed up to prix st georges level, ridden by Theo Hanzon and John Thijssen, but is mostly known for the impressive proportion of successful horses he produced, from a relatively small number of total offspring.

Among these is the stallion Millennium, the Trakehner stallion of the year in 2022 and sire of Sönke Rothenberger’s international grand prix horse Matchball OLD and the popular breeding stallion Morricone.

You may also be interested in…

Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade your subscription to access our online service that brings you breaking news and reports as well as other benefits.