Diaman de Semey | Diamant de Semilly

چهار نعل: Diaman de Semey | Diamant de Semilly

In the green land of Normandy, where Selle Français horses have been making legends for years, the story of Diamant de Semilly began with a bitter start and…

Diamant de Semilly was born on 22 May 1991 in the village of Couvains, near Saint-Lô in Normandy, France, at Haras de Semilly; a son of Le Tot de Semilly and Venise des Cresles (by Elf III). But his early life was far from easy: his mother died during the foaling, and the breeder initially did not want to keep the orphan foal. It was the Levallois family who took him in and raised him alongside another orphan foal on a bottle; the same family whose son, Éric Levallois, would years later sit in the saddle with him until the end of his competitive career. Venise des Cresles never produced another foal, and Diamant remained her only legacy.

Diamant’s talent was apparent from the very beginning. At the ages of four, five, and six, he qualified for the French Young Horses Championships in Fontainebleau, and in 1999 he won the French Critérium Pro 1 division title with Éric Levallois. Standing 173 cm tall, with a powerful hindquarters, exceptional jumping scope, a smooth and balanced canter, and remarkable rideability, he quickly climbed the ranks of Grand Prix competition one by one.

The peak of his competitive career came in 2002; at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, Diamant de Semilly and the French team won the team gold medal and he finished ninth individually. That same year, he also claimed the title of Champion de France.

In 2003 at the European Championships in Donaueschingen, Germany, he won the team silver medal with the French team, and at the Nations Cup in La Baule he contributed to France’s victory with a decisive, clear round. He was also named to the final French team for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, but after suffering tendonitis he was forced to withdraw and never got the chance to compete at the Olympics.

Diamant returned to the arena with renewed determination and ended his final competitive season in 2005 by winning both three-star Grand Prix (CSI***) events in Saint-Lô and Caen. In 2008, after undergoing colic surgery, he finally retired from competition to devote himself full-time to stallion duty at Haras de Semilly.

But the real story of Diamant de Semilly’s greatness was written in the breeding barn. He became one of the most influential show jumping stallions in the history of Thoroughbred breeding; for two consecutive years, 2015 and 2016, he claimed the title of world’s leading stallion in the WBFSH rankings, and for years afterward he remained among the world’s top two stallions. He added to his legacy more than a thousand international winning horses and, according to French sources, more than 2,500 registered winning horses in France alone, along with nearly seventy approved stallions and hundreds of horses at the 1.60-meter Grand Prix level. Among his famous offspring are Toledo de Kerser, Quickly de Kreisker, Don VHP Z, Comme il Faut, Saphir du Talus, Hello Guv'nor, Emerald van 't Ruytershof, and Open Up Semilly; horses that stood at the top of world rankings and championship podiums for two decades.

Diamant de Semilly died on 15 February 2022, at the age of 31, in the peace of his home pasture at Haras de Semilly, during a retirement that his breeders described as “all pampering and cuddles.” The news of his death sparked a wave of grief throughout the global show jumping and horse breeding community; sorrow at the loss of one of the great founding sires of this sport.

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