Simone Blum and DSP Alice: From World Championship Glory to a New Breeding Journey with Avantea
World Champion, show jumper and breeder: Simone Blum built a defining chapter of her career alongside DSP Alice, the exceptional mare with whom she claimed the individual world title at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, United States.
That triumph established the pair at the very pinnacle of international show jumping and remains one of the defining moments of the German rider’s career. Eight years on from that victory, Blum’s connection with Alice continues, this time through breeding and a project focused firmly on the next generation.
Now 19, DSP Alice has moved on from a career at the highest level of the sport to become a cornerstone of Simone Blum’s breeding programme. It is a new chapter that also involves Avantea, with whom the German rider is working to preserve and develop the genetic legacy of her champion mare.
“My name is Simone Blum, I’m a German show jumper and in 2018 I became World Champion in Tryon with DSP Alice,” Blum explains. “Alice is now 19 and we are breeding from her. We already have some very exciting offspring.”
Simone, what made DSP Alice such a special mare?
“Alice was incredibly special. She was extremely careful, had tremendous scope, an outstanding attitude and, above all, the biggest heart. She really was a wonderful mare.”
These were qualities Alice displayed throughout a career that reached its pinnacle at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon. There, Simone Blum secured individual gold, one of the most prestigious achievements in equestrian sport, taking Germany to the top step of the podium.
With Alice’s competitive career now behind her, attention has turned to the future. The aim is to pass on at least some of the qualities that made her such an outstanding performer: her scope, carefulness, attitude and the extraordinary generosity that Blum continues to regard as one of her defining traits.
How many offspring do you currently have from Alice?
“We have around ten offspring at the moment, and the oldest are five years old. Among them are offspring by Chacco-Blue and Dominator. We have used some of the best stallions in the world and we are working together with Avantea. We are extremely happy with this partnership and hope to produce some outstanding offspring from her.”
The eldest are therefore only five, an age at which their sporting careers are still very much in their infancy and any conclusions about their future potential would be premature. Time, development and training will reveal how much of their dam’s ability and character will emerge in the next generation.
Behind the project, however, lies a carefully considered breeding strategy, bringing together a maternal line that has already proven itself at the very highest level of the sport with a selection of leading international stallions. The collaboration with Avantea forms part of this long-term approach to DSP Alice’s breeding career.
For Simone Blum, breeding and sport are ultimately part of the same journey. Having achieved the greatest success of her career with Alice, the German rider can now watch a new generation take its first steps.
It is a transition that perfectly embodies the spirit of A Legacy in Sport: the story of an exceptional mare does not necessarily end with her final round in the arena. The World Championship title in Tryon is already part of sporting history, while through her offspring, DSP Alice’s legacy has the opportunity to live on into the future.
Ph Stefano Secchi
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