British Breeder Magazine, February 2021

Feature - Breeder Profile
up to BE100 last year and is now in the
hands of Aaron Millar who will produce
him to event this season.
There is always a question as to
what sort of horse he would be if he
had been gelded – stallions can be
unpredictable, so it will be interesting
to see how Tomatillo develops.
However, as Tomatillo was wanted
for the purpose of breeding, the riding
side of things, although interesting and
maybe revealing, remains ancillary to
the project. He will have a break from
training for 6 weeks for stud duties.
Tomatillo already has offspring that
are on the brink of starting their riding
career. There is a 4 year old in Norfolk,
and a 3 year old in the paddocks at
Biddesden. “William [Fox-Pitt] is very
knowledgeable about movement, and
he says his walk is better than Tamarillo’s,
while his trot has the same lightness and
fluidity. He is smaller, which may be
because of a hormonal reason as there
is a tendency for stallions to be smaller
than geldings. Their muscling is different
and their coats shinier – this applies to
bulls as well as stallions”, says Finn.
“Our approach to cloning is that it is an
extension to the principle of selective
breeding, to which we all aspire. We
want to preserve and disseminate
excellence and the bloodlines where it
is found. It is not more complicated than
that. Tomatillo stands at Biddesden
for the benefit of our own breeding
programme and for anyone else seeking
stamina, agility, boldness across country
and big movement. There is also frozen
semen available. We are looking to go
forward, not just repeat”, says Finn.
Pure bred arabs have been bred at
Biddesden since the 1930’s using mares
from the Crabbet Stud and they still have
some of the original Crabbet bloodlines
today. The Stud was primarily Pure
bred Arabs but from the early days
there were Anglo Arabs too, mostly
from a Thoroughbred dam. Crossing
the other way was done when the Arab
mare Darya was sent to the Wiltshire
Thoroughbred stallion Master Spiritus
and produced Mellita, dam of Tamarillo.
Tomatillo out with the South Dorset
Since the 1970’s the Guinness family
have also bred Connemaras in Ireland,
making a good mix with a thoroughbred
to produce an eventer. “They have
special merits such as steadiness and
quality, which contribute to producing a
good sport horse”, Finn explains. “Our
main aim is to continue to breed event
horses for the future”.
Finn hopes that they will have some of
Tomatillo’s youngsters to bring to the
British Breeding Futurity evaluations - it
will be fascinating to see how these
offspring develop and if they can follow
in the footsteps of their illustrious relative.
www.biddesdenstud.co.uk
TOMATILLO
Tomatillo is a genetic clone of the Eventer Tamarillo. He is available at stud by natural cover or frozen semen.
www.biddesdenstud.co.uk . Stud fee: £800
R
Biddesden Stud . Forest House . Chute . Andover . Hampshire SP11 9DS
finn.guinness@biddesdenstud.co.uk . 01264 790646
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