Fred Cornege from Seattle Lodge Stud tells us a little about how he came to import the to stallion Voltaire II into New Zealand. Whilst his first stallion Jaguar had been a great stallion for New Zealand breeders at the time, Fred knew it was time for more showjumping blood to be imported.
Fred used the close relationships he had formed with some of the clients that had bred to Jaguar to form a Syndicate to bring in a stallion. Along with John Meyers, Fred set off to his country of birth, Holland, to find the next big thing for New Zealand breeders. The initial stallion they found at the 2yo stallion Keuring unfortunately failed the blood test for EVA whilst in quarantine to bring back to New Zealand. So Fred returned later that same year to try again, and was excited to find a young stallion from the same breeder he named Voltaire II, paying homage to his great sire Voltaire. This stallion’s bloodlines were well and truly ahead of their time for New Zealand. Not only was there Voltaire as the sire, but the dam was by Nimmerdor – so together there was some formidable showjumping bloodlines – and in fact that is the very same cross that has produced one of the most popular stallions of modern time – Kannan.
Fred reported that Voltaire II got huge book of mares in his first few seasons at stud in New Zealand. It seemed that every top mare in New Zealand was put to him, including the likes of Waikere, Silver Fern, Felicitation and Waihoke who twice won the NZ Horse of the Year Title.
Voltaire II left some very impressive progeny in New Zealand across all disciplines, with a large number going to the very top in sport such as Vancouver, Vantage, Vittori and Gordon.
If it is one thing that Voltaire II will be remembered for it will be the fact that he hugely upgraded the quality of broodmares that we now have in New Zealand, with a great number of the very best New Zealand bred jumping horses coming out of Voltaire II mares. One such horse that is currently competing and winning big is the sensational gelding Windermere Cappuccino by Corofino II out of Vespa by Voltaire II. The Double J stud also stands a son of Voltaire II in JJ Repechage who is making more even more waves with his progeny in the Show Jumping circuit here.
Fred finally got out of Warmblood breeding when his interest in Thoroughbreds and Racing finally took a front seat. Voltaire II was sold to Sue Fowler of Astek Stud, which kept the shareholders involved and many continued to breed with him once the stallion had changed hands and moved to the South Island. Voltaire II passed away at in 2017 at age when he was 25 years of age.