When the German Warmblood breeders of the 1960s and 1970s turned to the Thoroughbred for refinement and athleticism, there were a number of important stallions that played a key role in the shaping of the modern Holstein sport horse – none was more significant than Ladykiller. 

While he stood in the far north of Germany, in Holstein, his influence continues to spread. In 2002 the most expensive horse at the prestigious “Fences” Auction in France, was L’Arc de Triomphe who sold for 460,000 euros, a world record for a three year old – and he is a direct descendent of the great Ladykiller, indeed with a double cross on the sire line since he is by Landor S, by Landadel by Landgraf by Ladykiller, and out of Novella out of Furth, also by Ladykiller.

Ladykiller was born in England in 1961 but he was no star on the racetrack, racing three times in two years and rating only a 80.5 kilo handicap – which luckily for him, was 0.5 kilos more than the minimum required for a Thoroughbred stallion to be accepted into German breeding ranks.

Before his death in 1979, Ladykiller sired 35 stallion sons including the twin pillars of Holstein: Landgraf and Lord.
Both Landgraf and Lord, it should be noted, were out of mares with a good percentage of Thoroughbred blood – Lord’s dam was a full throughbred, while Landgraf’s dam was 25% Thoroughbred.

Ladykiller’s pedigree features all the usual suspects found on jumping Thoroughbred pedigrees namely Blue Peter, Phalaris and Son in Law.

In his Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Warmblood Breed, Dr Dietrich Rossow had this to say about Ladykiller and his influence:

"He was an averaged sized, clearly masculine type with a beautiful head, really heavy neck, good shoulder, rather flat loin, and a nicely coupled, heavily muscled croup. He had first rate legs and feet for a Thoroughbred and was an elastic mover. He was everything a state breeding program could wish for. With his 35 approved sons and 195 approved daughters, he has had the greatest impact of all on the Holsteiner breed. His best produce came through crosses with mares with some Thoroughbred blood. This was just the opposite case as with Anblick. When crossed with coarse, common mares, Ladykiller produced accordingly. Today he must be viewed as one of the most important jumper sires of modern time. To enumerate all of his great performance offspring in the world of jumping goes beyond the limits of this essay."