What Raphaela Already Carried
Ragazzo, Raphael and Ramiro Z gave Raphaela a pedigree rich in movement, rideability, refinement and sport-horse quality.
Warmblood Horse Sales · Hall of Fame
Raphaela
Every great bloodline begins somewhere. For Warmblood Horse Sales, that story begins with Raphaela — the mare whose character, pedigree and seven-year relationship with Brian Mills led directly to the breeding of AES licensed stallion Noah.
Hanoverian Mare
By Ragazzo
Raphael · Ramiro Z Line
Dam of Noah
A Foundation Mare
01 · A Different Kind of Hall of Fame
Not Every Great Mare Wins in a Stadium
Some mares become famous through medals and international results. Others change the future quietly, through the foals they produce and the decisions they inspire. Raphaela belongs to the second group.
02 · Seven Years
The Mare Brian Came to Know
For seven years, Brian Mills had the privilege of caring for Raphaela. Those years were not spent reading her name from a pedigree database. They were spent learning the mare herself — her temperament, her movement, her routines and the qualities hidden behind the names written in her passport.
That long relationship mattered. Breeding decisions are strongest when the person making them understands the living horse, not only the paper behind it. By the time Raphaela's owners asked Brian for his opinion on a stallion, he knew both the mare and the family she represented.
03 · Her Pedigree
Dressage Heritage Through Ragazzo, Raphael and Ramiro Z
Raphaela was by Ragazzo, the Hanoverian stallion who won his performance test and developed through dressage to Intermediaire I.
Ragazzo was a son of Raphael, himself a direct son of Ramiro Z. This gave Raphaela a maternal heritage containing power, movement, trainability and an established dressage influence, with one of European jumping breeding's greatest foundation stallions behind it.
04 · The Breeding Decision
The Dressage Line Needed the Jumping World
What Brian Chose to Add
Brian believed the correct complement was a stallion carrying the Darco jumping line — adding proven scope, athleticism and modern Belgian performance blood.
Raphaela's Side
Ragazzo · Raphael · Ramiro Z
Dressage development, movement, rideability and a great European foundation.
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The Chosen Stallion
Branco van Overis
Parco · Darco · Lugano van la Roche, with recognised Belgian jumping strength.
The Resulting Colt
Noah
Foaled in 2014, later AES licensed and graded, and the foundation stallion of the Warmblood Horse Sales breeding programme.
05 · How Noah Came to Brian
A Promise, a Colt and a Life-Changing Opportunity
When Raphaela was first put in foal, an arrangement was made that if the foal were a colt, Brian could have him. That first foal was a filly.
When Raphaela was bred again, her owners asked Brian which type of stallion he believed should be used. He studied her passport and recognised that the Ragazzo, Raphael and Ramiro Z influence should be complemented by proven jumping blood. He recommended finding a stallion from the Darco line.
Branco van Overis became that stallion. The second foal was a colt. His name was Noah.
The private details of other people's decisions are not the important part of this story. What matters is that seven years of care created trust, knowledge of the mare led to a deliberate breeding choice, and that choice changed the direction of Brian's life.
06 · A Personal Beginning
From a Liverpool Childhood to a Stallion Bred From Legends
“I did not inherit a famous breeding empire. I was a street kid from Liverpool who loved horses, cared for one mare for seven years, recognised what was written in her bloodline and was given the chance to build from it.”
Noah was not the end of the story. He became the beginning of a breeding programme that now carries both sides of that original decision into a new generation.
Raphaela therefore belongs in this Hall of Fame for a reason no performance table can fully measure. Without her, there is no Noah at Warmblood Horse Sales — and without Noah, none of the youngsters standing in the fields today would exist.
07 · The Living Family
Raphaela's Blood Continues Through Noah
Through Noah, Raphaela's influence now lives within the horses bred at Warmblood Horse Sales.
08 · Why One Photograph Is Enough
A Photograph From the Yard Where the Story Began
Only one photograph of Raphaela is used on this page. It was taken at the yard Brian ran more than a decade ago, during the years when she was part of his everyday life. That very lead rope is still in use today on our horses.
That image does not need to prove she was a superstar. Its importance is personal and historical. It records the mare who stood at the beginning of everything that followed.
Seeing that yard again brings back the place, the years and the horse herself. For that reason, this page is not only a pedigree record. It is a thank-you.
Continue the Bloodline Story
The Mare Between Ragazzo and Noah
Noah's registered AES record confirms Branco van Overis as his sire, Raphaela as his dam and Ragazzo as Raphaela's sire. The personal account on this page is Brian Mills' own first-hand history with the mare.