Grand Champions
Horses From Europe and Beyond
To regular people, 2002 seems like a random year in the Grand Champion saga, but the collectors know that this was the time for big changes in the manufacturing of these horses. Marchon became Empire rather quietly back in the early 90s, but Empire's transition into Alpha made a bang and a crash and other assorted stock noises. (*Noises not provided. Insert your own noises.*) Alpha took charge in 2002, and weird things started appearing and disappearing, and even more things were suggested but never came to be.
Among the changes to the line were some "new" horses that were exclusive to Europe and/or Australia. This was the first time (as far as we know) that overseas horses looked different from the North American ones, and vice versa. Most of these European and Australian horses have never been sold in the US or Canada, though some look obviously similar to North Americans from earlier years of release. There is mystery around these horses, as no one knows their names, or if they are part of a definite set or not, but we have it on pretty good authority that they were never intended for sale in NA, and that some of them were indeed designed by the "Other Grand Champion People" over in Europe.
We don't know if Euro/Australian horses are going to be a regular thing for the future, but they are reportedly selling well in Europe, so that is promising for the collectors there!
There may be even more European exclusives in countries like Germany, but I have no means of getting information on them, so for now this area will cover only what is known to exist.
From what was released in 2003, I see one or two random-breed singles, and roughly 4 Breeds of horses, organized into a mare and stallion each:
Holsteiners
Lipizzaners
Mustangs
Quarter Horses
Of the four breeds, only one seems to have produced a "real" foal, while the others are childless or maybe have adopted foals from previous years and are calling them their own.
Most people are still putting these guys in their 2003 sections, but since they don't fit into any 03 set conclusively, I'll be putting these and any future Euro horses in their own little area like this...
The Holsteiners
The mare's pose is different, as the Euro Holst Mare is in the trotter and looks a lot like Miss Congeniality, the mare from that other Holsteiner set, the North American one from 2000. The North American Wurttemberg mare is in the prancer, and looks like a non-appaloosa version of Ah Pah Ahl from 2002.
This is all wacky and it's obvious that horses have been sneaking back and forth across the pond, but the important thing to know is that all of the horses involved in the Holsteiner/Wurttemberg mess are basically clones of eachother or other horses from other years.
Here is the Stallion in his original tack. He is similar to North America's 2000 Holsteiner Mardigras, but not as red, and of course his markings are different. He has more shading, too, and comes with the new English saddle there that is large and unadorned. While more correct for a saddle (at least the girth is in the right place), it is too big for my tastes and would not appropriately fit most of the smaller molds. He is in the newer High Step Stallion with slightly fatter legs.
It seems like the 2000/2001 Classic sets were chosen for, uh, 'recycling,' as several of the UKs are those same ones with minor differences in shading and markings, and many of the foals have moved over there, too. Maybe Alpha had them in excess and shipped them over as a kind of "starter stock" for the beginning of sales there?
The Lipizzaners
The Mare here is Princess Perdita from 2001, being sold
in a second life as a UK horse, and with a whole new family as
well... It's like that movie "The Stepfather" where the guy has all these different families and keeps killing them? And the stepdaughter is the only one onto him, except poor Luke from Counterstrike who shows up at the end and tries to save everybody, but he ends up getting killed again, too, and the guy also kills the realtor/ house inspector guy in the House for Sale and wraps him up in this big roll of Tyvek that the My Little Pony playmat is made of??
Well anyway, there is no sign of the first husband,
Senor Valadore,
or the first foal, Pequeno Acrobata, and mum's the word on
where they went. Instead, there is this brand new
Lipizzaner stallion who is even in a new, modified version of the
Rearing Stallion mold. This is like the Mustang/Brumby of old,
but his ears are pricked and his front legs have been moved to
something
less Mustangy and more like a performing Lipizzaner. This guy is
hard to find even in his countries of
residence. He was around for a few months and then seemed to
disappear. Like the European Rearing Arab (See below), he is advertised as a "Special Edition." I can't imagine what this means. Maybe he is a stand-alone and not meant to be part of this new Princess Perdita family? It hasn't been made clear that this is the father of the new foal. I got this pic from a catalogue, and the His/Her spaces for the Lipizzaners have been sorta "fixed" so that Perdita looks more like a single parent.
It seems weird that this special edition doesn't have a name. I think I heard somewhere that he is named "Senor Valadore" also, but he does not have the same fleck markings as SV 1.
This black foal is the first of his breed not to be born white in the
GC world. He is really cute in person
with his stockings and alternating pink and gray hooves. It's so
encouraging to see the hooves like this; reminds me of the beautiful
year that was '97. His star
is this funny asterisk shape, and the little
guy is just too sweet. His blanket is dark red and looks so elegant
with the black. So there are the Lippies: A 2001 mare with a totally revamped stallion and a neat little foalie.
The Mustangs
These two arrived with no warning, and for a while we thought they were going to be North Americans.
Someone asked Alpha specifically, though, and they said in their
annoying, Where's-My-brain way that they would not be crossing the
pond.What a shame, because this is a handsome couple; the classic mare looks like the Lusitano from the mid 90s, with the same long mane and similar shading.
That was a really pretty mare
and it's not easy to find one that isn't all scratched up.
I heard somewhere that this Mustang is not as deeply shaded as
the Lusitano, but they look about the same to me. But that's
definitely
her under there, don't you think? Many thanks go to Cerys for providing these great pics of the mustang mare in her package, and the loose mustang stallion, shown as Spirited Half Pint, in original tack.
This stallion is a beauty and sure to please in a new color for this mold.
The Cantering Stallion is a pretty old one for GC standards,
but it had been
limited to chestnut, gray and black until this guy showed up. 
This guy has a single sock, flowing black hair, and nice, high shading on his legs. That's mine in some fancier threads; he comes with light colored tack that doesn't complement his buckskin coat. You can see how fetching he is in the bolder stuff. He is a great looker and so regal with all that black shading!
His blaze is long and wobbly and blended. At least there isn't the obvious dab of separate pink paint on his muzzle; it's nicely airbrushed on there. He is much more handsome than his boring catalogue picture suggests, definitely worth a go among your next photo show entries.
These two don't appear to have a foal, but I do keep seeing Shadow Glory the 00 Mustang Foal sold around and about them, so maybe they are trying to pass him off as the child to this couple.
The Quarter Horses
This was another big question mark for a while. NA got a similar set
of Quarter Horses, and for a long time no one was sure if they were
going to be different or not. The stallion, particularly, took
on a few incarnations.
At first, he was a plain old palomino, just like Liquid Gold
from the 2000 QHs, and this set was looking exactly like that one. Then some pictures of him as a bay started showing up, and THEN this flaxen sorrel version appeared, and I thought it was just Liquid Gold again, but in a dark photo or something. It turned out that the Bay Liquid Gold would go to North America as "American Gold", The Flaxen Liquid Gold was real after all, and would go to Europe and Australia, and the Old Palomino Liquid Gold would not appear this year. It looks like Butterscotch went on holiday, too, as everyone's wife is now this new Flaxen Sorrel Mare.
In some pictures this stallion looks like a palomino, and I don't think I've seen an actual picture of the mare, but I assume they are the same sorrel color, and I guess it's just coincidence (uh huh) that they have the same foot markings as the 2000's.
You can see that the guy comes with a new kind of saddle, like a shrunken down version of the ones that came with the Sound And Action stallions.
Photo Credit: Thanks go to Ang for this picture of the UK Quarter Horse Stallion !
The Lone Arabian Stallion
This is the solitary horse of the UK bunch, though there is a
dark bay Arab mare in the Fancy Parade set. He is a beauty in the
same new Rearing Lipizzaner mold, and this is
another Special Edition who comes with fancy tack of the
parade persuasion.
This is a beautifully shaded stallion that everyone wants. You can
see there that he is just magnificent and would be the jewel in any
collection. Unfortunately, he is even harder to find than the Lipizzaner and has only been seen in Northern Europe (just Germany, I think).
I was very fortunate that Janice in Germany emailed me and offered a trade for this special guy, else I would never have the opportunity to own him.
This is a dark bay with a crimped tail, single sock and star, and he has lovely,
solid black shading down his back and over his shoulders and hind legs.
This is an awesome pattern that gives him such a proud, mature look.
Not like the random side-patch patterns of shading that so many GCs
have. In the pamphlet I have, he is advertised along with all these other UKs, so maybe he'll make his way South eventually and other people will get to own him. With both 03 and 04 turning out mostly lackluster horses, this extra special one is all the more appreciated.
The stallion in his factory tack. Thanks to Janice.
©2005 Sloane Eljay
Blue Paradise Stables