Irco Marco
Poet Marco Polo Mirakel Irco Polo Sinaeda Lottie Wiena Irco Marco Sinaeda Sportman Ritta J Cetsie Cromwell Frieda Wufrieda
Born 1971, Bay
Irco Marco was a successful International show jumper. He competed in Grand Prix, Nations Cups and European Championships. He was Swedish Show Jumping Champion in 1982 and won 22 times in international competition.
This is yet another of those stories that illustrates what a multi-cultural business breeding jumping horses has become. A Dutch stallion, purchased in Britain, who was to become a leading sire in Sweden - mainly on the basis of the offspring of Irish mares! But this journey to the top was not without pain, since when he was first presented for licensing in 1976, the Swedish Commission, headed by Olle Kjellander, the National Studmaster at Flyinge, said they would never license the horse – according to the commission, he wasn’t even a sport horse.
The young stallion was presented again in 1978, and he was yet again refused even though he had been starring in competition, first with Ann Gustavii (who with her husband Lars, had purchased the horse as a four year old in 1975 from Fergus Graham who had in turn purchased him from his Dutch breeder, Hans Bijen) then with Swiss international, Paul Weier who took him into 1.60 classes.
Irco Marco
In the light of these performances, the stallion was granted a ‘provisional cover-license’ which meant he could produce foals but they could not be registered!
(I am indebted for much of the information in this profile to two splendid articles on Irco Marco written by Pascal Renauldon in Z Magazine, August/October and October/December, 2000. www.zangersheide.com )
Finally in 1982, Irco Marco was admitted to the B-group of Swedish stallions – and the foals born in the previous six years were retrospectively registered, including one of his most famous offspring, the mare, Marcoville.
Irco Marco’s grand-sire was one of the famed Foundation Sires of modern Dutch breeding, the German Trakehner, Marco Polo. Ironically, Marco Polo left very few stallion sons in Holland, and Casimir, by Irco Marco’s sire Irco Polo out of a mare by the Selle Français, Apalatin, revived the line when he was KWPN approved in 1987. Casimir was long listed for Olympic selection with Bert Romp.
Irco Marco’s sire, Irco Polo is credited with five international jumpers on the WBFSH list, the most successful of which was Debbie Dolan-Sweeney’s Itziweeni (born Damaika, out of a mare by Formateur).
Irco Polo is out of a mare by Sinaeda, another pillar of Dutch breeding who stood in Holland from 1958-1967. Irco Marco carries two crosses of Sinaeda, since his dam, J. Cetsie is by Sportman by Sinaeda.
One Swedish rider who was grateful for the determination of the Gustaviis to promote their stallion, was Maria Gretzer who achieved her greatest successes with two Irco Marco products: Marcoville and Feliciano. Marcoville was a grey mare out of Ballymena Park by the Thoroughbred stallion, Menelek who was for two years top of the list of Irish and English jumping horse sires. The stallion, Feliciano in out of a mare by the Swedish stallion of Hannoverian descent, Utrillo.
According to Maria: “I have already ridden many Irco Marcos in my life. All of them with great ability, very good, willing to work and very brave. They jump everything… water, walls, you name it. They are excellent Derby horses.”
Riding Marcoville at Barcelona in 1992, Gretzer finished individually 6th. With Feliciano, she enjoyed a stellar career from 1995 until 2003 – with wins and placings in all the major European shows. The highlight of this career came at the Sydney Olympic Games, when Feliciano won the third qualifying round before finishing in 15th place overall. In 2004, Feliciano was named Stallion of the Year in Sweden, joining such illustrious company as Briar and Robin Z.
Irco Mena
Marcoville’s dam, Ballyena Park is also the dam of Irco Mena, considered by many the best son of Irco Marco. Irco Mena won ten Grand Prix and was himself a successful sire before his untimely death at the age of 13 in 1995 – his son, So What was selected for the Sydney Games with Helena Lündbäck, and another stallion son, Nick of Diamonds (out of Shamsong by Imperius xx) was very successful with American rider, Leslie Howard. With Meneleek on his stallion line, through Tulyar, he has the blood of the jumping producers, Pharos and Bayardo, on his dam’s side, Persian Gulf – like Precipitation a son of the great mare, Double Life. A third product of the Irco Mena / Ballyena Park mating, Optiebeurs Mica (born Micca G) competed internationally with Evelyn Blaton.
Irco Marco had great success when bred with Irish Thoroughbreds. Aside from Marcoville and Irco Mena, the cross also produced Chouman, another international star in the hands of Nelson Pessoa. If we look at the WBFSH standings of 2001/2, we find of the 17 jumping horses that make the list for Irco Marco, eight are out of Thoroughbred mares. Some measure of his dominance of Irco Marco in Swedish breeding is shown in the figures supplied to Pascal Renauldon by Birgitta Elmlund, editor of the Swedish Stallion Yearbook who supplied statistics for the Breeder’s Trophy which covers dressage, showjumping and eventing, This index contains the stallions with at least 50 descendants from the foals born in 1993 and 1994 and shows Irco Marco on top with a considerable lead, as does a review of the years 1992-99.
Irco Marco’s daughters have produced the approved stallions Chiefen, KP Sirocco, Verona and Pomme Royal.
