The KWPN-approved stallion Spartacus TN (by Stakkato) has passed away this morning due to colic. With Henk van de Pol the stallion jumped in great shape to a third place in the Grand Prix of Outdoor Gelderland little over a week ago.

The passing of the thirteen-year-old KWPN-approved stallion Spartacus TN (Stakkato out of Galina by Grannus, breeder F.Ch. Amend of Hannover) is the fourth xx for Team Nijhof this year. Previously keur stallion Florencio, Lord Z and talent for the future Latour TN passed away. On Facebook Jeanette Benedict-Nijhof says: “This morning the stallion Spartacus has died as a result of colic. We are all very sad about it. Mainly because Spartacus was so successful with Henk van de Pol lately and last week claimed a third place in the Grand Prix of Outdoor Gelderland. As a breeding sire Spartacus was also making a breakthrough and at the moment we see numerous offspring performing superbly on the international stage. Frozen semen of excellent quality will remain available.

We thank Henk van der Pol and his team for the best care and wish them strength with this loss, too.” Spartacus was transported to the clinic this morning but died before the veterinarians were able to perform surgery on him. On Facebook also his rider Henk van de Pol shared to be devastated by it. In 2010 Spartacus was registered in the KWPN studbook. He passed the short track Performance Test with a convincing score of 86,5 points. With Hanno Ellermann and Marco Kutscher the stallion had already been successful in the international sports, before Henk van de Pol took over the reigns early 2015. They experienced many successes and would appear at nation cups in Dublin and Hickstead. Up to and including 2015 Spartacus had 576 KWPN-registered offspring.