San Ramiro is an imported Hanoverian stallion by the legendary and now deceased Sandro Z out of a mare by Raphael (Ramiro Z).   

San Ramiro competed successfully up to the 1.30m classes in Germany prior to being imported to the USA.

Sandro Z sons produce champions:

To name a few.  Breed to San Ramiro, a Sandro Z son, and the next champion could be bred by you......

Scored 9 for temperament, 9 for character, 8 for type and 8 for conformation - test in Neustadt/Dosse 1994.

Click here to go to a more detailed pedigree analysis writeup

As a brief summary San Ramiro has the following influential sires closely in his pedigree:

Paternal Side:  Sandro Z, Sacramento Song xx, Wahnfried (sire of Der Lowe), Nearco

Maternal Side:  Ramiro Z, Raimond, Abglanz, Wienerwald, Agram.

San Ramiro's dam is by Raphael who is by Ramiro Z.  This combination of Sandro blood with a mare by a son of Ramiro Z is also found in the stallion Sandro Hit.  It is noteworthy to breeders that breeding to San Ramiro is bringing in very similar genetic material to that in Sandro Hit.  San Ramiro offers North American breeders the opportunity to produce good looking, rideable top level horses.

It is through Sandro that the blood of Sacramento Song xx lives on and daily grows more influential in both dressage and jumping breeding. Sacramento Song was a classically bred English Thoroughbred who stood in Holstein from 1973 to his early death in 1979. He is described in Dr Dietrich Rossow’s Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Warmblood Breed as: "A classically bred English Thoroughbred with beautiful, smoothly harmonious topline. Beautiful head, rather low set on neck, impressive shoulder with good coupling to the croup. Well muscled, strong legs and feet, sufficient gaits. Tremendous jumping ability, very tight with front end and good with knees."

Dr Rossow was of the opinion that he bred: ‘Very good temperaments, keen, energetic dispositions. Top jumper sire!’ Alas as a private stallion he was only sparingly used by the Holstein breeders to their later regret. By 1990 with progeny earnings of DM696,000 he was the 8th most successful post-war Thoroughbred sire in Germany! Sacramento Song had 31 competitors with placings, 29 of which were showjumpers. After his death three exceptional sons were licensed on the grounds of their competition results: Sympatico, Sacramento Son and Sandro.

Bent Neergaard is a very respected Danish breeder, he is also the man who ‘discovered’ Sandro. "I first saw Sandro when he was two and an half years old. He was presented at the Holsteiner stallion selection and was not accepted. So with one of my friends we bought him and took him to Denmark. We presented him at the licensing and he was approved and then did a very good 100 days test. A couple of years later he went over to the famous eventing rider, Nils Haagensen. He did quite well with him, but he was probably better for showjumping, so he was handed over to my partner who took him jumping internationally."

"In Denmark, he was based at Fumen, but it wasn’t really the right place for him. There were a lot of old Oldenburger heavy horses - we thought it would be the right place for him but it wasn’t. Then he moved to the southern area of Jutland, close to Germany, a Holsteiner area. He covered some Holsteiner mares and with them, he was really good. But still he wasn’t accepted all over Denmark - he only had a few progeny from the first years and it wasn’t easy to get him accepted by the breeding association or the breeders."

"He was sold to Paul Schockemöhle, and he understood the quality of the horse. There is quite a lot of Thoroughbred in this horse, and they can be a little bit loose in front, but it was a modern horse. I think he was ten years in advance of his time, even in Denmark. Schockemöhle could see exactly the potential of that horse, the modern type with long legs, good riding capability - and he mixed him with the right mares, the mares with the German ‘G’ blood. Now you can see Sandro blood in all the major breeding associations all over the world."

"I had been in the army for many years, and also worked with horses for many years. I liked lighter horses than most of the breeders in those days. I liked his eyes and his beautiful head, I liked this very fine looking horse - and I liked the blood also, I thought he could be a very good performance horse. In those days, the breeders didn’t look enough at performance, and I thought he would bring in some performance."

"In a stallion the most important thing is performance. But as a breeder you cannot sell horses unless you have good-looking horses. So you have to look for performance, for a good-looking horse, and you have to look for a horse that is very calm and good in the head as well. You cannot say ‘only performance’ or ‘only beautiful’ or ‘only temperament’ - you need all these things."

When he moved to Paul Schockemöhle’s stud, Sandro also met up with Franke Sloothaak who continued his jumping career for lifetime winnings of DM55,000. As a sire, Sandro has also been a considerable success, with three of his progeny competing at the 1994 WEG in The Hague - Sandro Song (Ante Smlesa), Safari (Michael Abo) and Paradiso (Rolf-Göran Bengtsson). Sandro is the sire of more than 40 licensed sons, the most successful being Silvio 1 and II, Sandro Song, Sao Paulo, Sandro Boy and Salido Z. Successful competitors include; Salido Z (Debbie Stephens), Sagrat (Guy Goosen), Sakrus (Debbie Winkler), Sympathico (Ersting-Engemann), Silas M (Yanix Elad), Sheila and Sundance Kid (Franke Sloothaak) and Santorin F (Fritz Fervers) and of course, the World Cup Champion, Sandro Boy.

As a broodmare sire Sandro has also been exceptionally successful: Lasango (Kurt Reinacher), San Serai Funky Town (Björn Nagel), Lausano (René Tebbel), Risandro (Samantha McIntosh), Filias (Arnoldo Bologni), High Class (Royne Zettermann), Cappucino and Santa Fe (Marco Kutscher), Grand Soso (Markus Fuchs), Grand Soso II (Ulrik Kjaer) and High Stepper (Maria Gretzer) - all Grand Prix showjumpers, all out of daughters of Sandro. Sandro is unique in that he is the only stallion son of the cross of Sacramento Song and Wahnfried - a cross that has also been very successful in producing dams of stallions. The stallions Lavell I and II, Atlantas Z and Campione, as well as international jumping horses, Cathleen (Meredith Beerbaum - then Michaels) and Zigeunerin (Rodrigo Pessoa) all came from that cross. Sandro’s dam, Dürte is the full sister of one of the most successful Puissance horses ever - Wabbs. Durte is also the dam of Harvey Smith’s Salvador. Silvio I was the winner of the Performance Test at Adelheidsdorf in 1990, with very high marks for his jumping ability. Silvio has been the sire of a number of impressive stallion sons including Sunrise, Sir Lui, Sir Holtrup, Sergeant Pepper and Spider Murphy.

What is slightly more surprising is Sandro’s influence on dressage breeding. If we look at the stallions represented in the most recent (2004/5) Eylers’ German Stallion book, we find the jumping stallions, San Brasil (by Sao Paulo), Sandro Boy (out of a Grannus mare) and Santander H (out of a Contender mare) but there are more stallions promoted for dressage - all sons of World Young Horse Dressage Champion, Sandro Hit. There is Samba Hit (Reserve Champion at the 2002 Bundeschampionate in the 3 year old stallion class - and a full brother to World Six Year Old Young Dressage Champion, Poetin), Show Star (who was Champion in that 3 year old stallion class in 2002), the Westfalien state stud stallions, Sir Bedo and Sterling, the exciting young Danish stallion, Blue Hors Soprano, and Stedinger, a winner at the 2002 Oldenburg Stallion Days, and being out of a Landadel / Furioso bred mare, Stedinger might be that rare creature, an all-round stallion. Of his dressage performers, Isabell Weth’s Satchmo by the Sandro son, Sao Paulo, is the most successful.

Sandro - now re-christened Sandro Z - stood the last years of his life at the Zangersheide stud, where he died in August 2005.

In the survey of the world's top 75 jumping sires that appears in the French publication, Monneron 2007-2008, compiled by Bernard le Courtois, Sandro is 37th with 8 CSI winners incluuding World Cup Champoin, Sandro Boy. His best stallion son, Silvio I is 56th with 6 CSI winners including world number 11 - Shutterfly.

Sandro Z is one of the most succesfull breeding stallions in both dressaage & showjumping as well as being one of the first stallions to prove himself in the sport. Under Franke Sloothaak he accumulated winnings amounting to DM 55,000. Sandro Z's progeny are very sought after for sport horses. At the The Hague World Equestrian Games (1994) he had three representatives, no less, in Sandro Song (Ante Simlesa), Safari (Michael Abo) and Paradiso (Rolf-Göran Bengtsson). Sandro Z has more than forty licensed sons including Silvio I and II, Sandro Song and Salido Z. Many of his offspring are performing at the highest level showjumping as well as dressage these include Sagrat (Guy Goossen), Silas M (Yanix Elad), Sheilaand Siundance Kid (Franke Sloothaak) and Santorin F (Fritz Fervers).  Shutterfly is by Silvio, a son of Sandro Z. 

Sandro is the sire of many licensed sons, the most successful being Silvio 1 and II, Sandro Song, Sao Paulo, Sandro Boy and Salido Z. Successful competitors include; Salido Z (Debbie Stephens), Sagrat (Guy Goosen), Sakrus (Debbie Winkler), Sympathico (Ersting-Engemann), Silas M (Yanix Elad), Sheila and Sundance Kid (Franke Sloothaak) and Santorin F (Fritz Fervers) and of course, the World Cup Champion, Sandro Boy

Conceived in Holstein, born in Westfalia, licenced at Neumünster, and himself an international performer under Frtiz Liggges, Ramiro Z influenced nearly all European Performance Studbooks. 

Ramiro was the most popular distributor of the Ramzes blood and the most frequented sire in Germany. He stood at stud in Westfalia, Holstein, Zangersheide and Holland. Numerous sons and daughters conserve and pass on the valuable genes that stand for rideability and jumping talent. Therefore, it is not a surprise to find Ramiro's children and grandchildren at the top levels of showjumping and dressage.

Some of the most famous offspring of Ramiro Z are Ratina Z who won Olympic medals in two separate Olympics with two different riders.  Ramiro Z's daughter Fatinitza showjumping from victory to victory under Fritz Ligges and Thomas Frühmann, and later mother of the Zangerheide stallion, Almiro Z.

Ramiro's second season saw him in Holstein where he produced three stallions: Rinaldo (out of a Trakehner mare), Rio Negro, who became a Grand Prix dressage horse, trained by Willi Schultheis, and Ronald, who was for years the most popular stallion in Holstein, where he sired five licensed sons (among them the Champion of 1992, Rocadero) and more than a hundred top broodmares, many of whom became mothers of sires like Alcatraz, Libero, Lord Incipit, Larno, Le Grand - all exquisite sires and sporthorses. Ronald, like his famous father, went to Holland - where he stood for five years, and sired, among others, the showjumping sire Saluut, the father of the Australian stallion, Salute.

Ramiro's influence on the Dutch Warmblood breeding was, and still is, of utmost importance. The Dutch bestowed the title - 'Horse of the Year' - on Ramiro in 1992. For Leon Melchior's performance breeding program at Zangerheide, Ramiro became the strongest and most successful pillar.

Ratina Z (by Ramiro out of Argentina by Almé), the gold medal showjumping winner at Barcelona and the World Cup winner of 1992, is a famous example of Melchior's breeding program.

Ramiro was one of the first stallions to appear in the sport. During his own sporting career, Ramiro had numerous wins at all levels of showjumping - Nations Cups, Puissance (jumping over 2.2 metre!) and in international Grand Prix competition.

When Ramio was presented for selection, he was described as the ideal type of the modern Holsteiner - strongly imprinted by his dam, tall and elegant, showing the top line of h is grandfather, Cottage Son xx, with powerful frame, a glorious face and large, clear eyes. His excellently formed neck, beautifully set, could still be seen, even when he was an old horse, and are stamped on his progeny. Ramiro displayed a very good walk, a normal trot. and a great canter - it was impossible not to be enthusiastic.

Fortunately Ramiro's offspring show their ancestor's genetic power and performance.

Further down in San Ramiro's dam line we find the reliable jumping producing 'A' line.  The A-line was founded by Adeptus XX used for breeding from 1884-1904. Most important was his grandson Alderman and through the Alderman son Alkoven this line produced the famous stallion Agram (1942-62) an outstanding producer of jumping horses. In Agram's color and type, one sees the influence of Arabian blood through his Amateur I mother.

San Ramiro's damsire Raphael also carries the blood of Abglanz.   Abglanz sired the famous Absatz, who stood from 1964-1982. Absatz is one of the stallions who had the biggest influence in changing the appearance the of the Hanoverians within the last 20-30 years to a more modern. elegant type. His son Argentan for example. standing since 1971, consistently produces the good Absatz type and presence, including three national champion mares in broodmare shows, and -among others- the impressive young stallion Airport. The Absatz sons Akzent I and especially Akzent II and his son Acapulco are also very good stallions in Germany. Overall, the line appears to be very versatile in sports ability, including success in hunter competition.