About Destano

Destano followed his ancestors Desperados, De Niro, Donnerhall and Donnerwetter onto the world's great dressage stages. He was a multiple Grand Prix winner, Olympic and World Championship competitor, most recently in 2024 at the Derby in Hamburg, at the CHIO in Aachen and at the Olympic Games in Paris (FRA) with Simone Pearce (AUS), who always put him in the limelight brilliantly.

In good health, he took his leave of the great international dressage sport. As a young stallion, Destano passed both the 30-day and 70-day tests in Schlieckau with outstanding scores in basic gaits and rideability. Destano was the 2011 I a main premium winner at the Oldenburg Stallion Days in Vechta. As the “heir to the throne” of his sire Desperados, who was successful in the German championship team for many years, he was highly frequented, produced highly paid auction foals, Bundeschampionat participants and has produced 30 licensed sons to date (including Dark Sensation, Denoix, Desperaux, Devine, Don Dieter, Donauschall, Durello etc.), including various premium stallions. Denoix was one of the top prices at the 2016 Oldenburg Elite Auction in the fall with 300,000 euros and is currently part of the German championship squad with Katharina Hemmer. The international Grand Prix stars also include Drombusch OLD/Felicitas Hendricks, who won Nations Cups, and well over 30 offspring are currently successful at advanced (S) level.

His sire Desperados was at times the most successful dressage horse in the world, a medal guarantor for the German championship team (including team gold and individual bronze in Rio de Janeiro) and “Hanoverian Stallion of the Year” in 2016. His dam's sire is the Celle state stud stallion Brentano II. This dark chestnut was a licensing winner, Bundeschampionat finalist and promoted up to Grand Prix level. Due to his outstanding merits as a sire of dressage horses (including sire of various world-class horses such as Barclay II/Sven Rothenberger, Brentina/Debbie Mc Donald and others), he was named “Hanoverian Stallion of the Year” in 2003. With the large-framed Anglo-Norman Imperator as well as Wenzel I, Absatz, Valentino xx and Lateran/T., there are also top-class breeders in the descending generations of this dam line, which has its origins in the traditional station of Stedebergen (near Verden). 

Destano's special calling card is the first-class Hanoverian dam line 749/Eckernförde II. This has produced such well-known stallions as the famous brothers Argentan I and II, Don Indigo (PB Westf.), Downtown (PB NL), Hochfein (Ldb. Marbach), Labadia (PB Thür.), the Olympian Lancet (PB NL, Hess., internationally successful with Imke Schellekens-Bartels/NL and Emma Hindle/GBR) and Western Star (Ldb. Celle). They represent this line as well as the queen of numerous mare shows, DLG champion mare Goldlady, whose grandsons Frenchman I and II were both licensed. In Holstein, this line is registered with the number 8777 and produced the first-class half-brothers Calvin Z and Cantus as well as Lansing, who all became top jumping sires.