The Big Winners From Paris

It’s finally spring!

We’ve been celebrating by finding paddock boots without holes in them to navigate spring mud and fixing broken washing machines that aren’t designed to handle 10+ loads of winter blankets.

How are you celebrating?

In this week’s newsletter, you’ll learn:

  1. The name to remember that conquered the Saut Hermès Grand Prix in Paris

  2. HH Azur’s story (From her early days jumping feed carts to how McLain Ward almost missed out big time)

  3. The legend that is Hermes Ryan

But first! Here’s today’s trivia:

The Name That All of Paris is Talking About

The competition was fierce at Saut Hermès this weekend, with entries like former champion Kevin Staut aboard Cheppetta, current World No 1, Henrik von Eckermann aboard Iliana, and Julien Epaillard aboard Donatello d’Auge (who was second in the Dutch Masters just last weekend).

But besting them all this weekend was Mr. Tac!

In addition to winning our vote for best name of the horse show, he and Victor Bettendorf were the fastest of seven double clear rounds with a time of 32.08.

This winning combination was six years in the making as Bettendorf started Mr. Tac as a five year old and eventually sold him as a seven year old.

However, fate brought Mr. Tac back to Bettendorf’s stables as a nine year old and Bettendorf just enjoyed his first 5* Grand Prix victory aboard Mr. Tac in February at Gothenburg.

We’re not sure where they’re headed next, but he’s certainly a name we won’t forget!

You can watch his winning ride here:

Other Noteworthy Wins

Austria's Max Kühner also gets to cash a fat check this week as he won the €100.000 1.55m Le Saut Hermès aboard EIC Coriolis des Isles.

It was an unexpected win for Kühner, who was just bringing the 11 year old gelding back from a little time off at the beginning of the year.

“It’s only his second competition after Doha in late February, so I didn’t have high hopes. However, he quickly got back in shape to take the win and surprises are always the best!”

Proof that sometimes the best preparation is rest! Although, it sounds like Kuhner’s idea of rest is running a business…

Henrik von Eckermann and his promising ten year old mare Iliana also struck gold this weekend, claiming the CSI5* 1.50 Prix GL Events. They were the only pair of the 43 competitors to have a clear round in under 59 seconds, and we’re sure this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of this unbeatable pair.

The fiery ten year old won her first five star competition at the Royal Windsor horse show last May and has quickly risen to the top as one of the top jumpers in Eckermann’s impressive stables.

From Jumping Feed Carts to Winning Rolex Grand Prixs: The Full Story of HH Azur

Known by her fans as “Queen Annie,” we’re pretty sure that HH Azur now has more fans than most real royals. At least, we really enjoyed some of her new fangirl hashtags:

So like any proper fan, we went down a rabbit hole to learn more about how she came to be one of McLain Ward’s top horses.

The beginning of HH Azur’s story starts as… well, she almost never happened.

Belgian breeder Nathalie Beaufort originally planned to breed her dam, Sion van de Zuuthoeve, to Argentinus. However, that cross wasn’t possible, so they instead chose one of Argentinus’s promising sons, Thunder van de Zuuthoeve.

When HH Azur (originally named Azur Garden’s Horses) was born, they thought she was special. Pedro Nolasco (Nathalie’s husband) started Azur as a three year old, and after graduating from jumping feed carts on a beach, he began lightly showing her as a four and five year old.

Photo Credit: Chronicle of The Horse and Veronique Patemoster

McLain Ward first heard about the promising mare as a five year old, but he ultimately passed on her and it was retired Olympic medalist François Mathy who purchased her as an eight year old for Diego Perez Bilbao to ride.

You can enjoy this fun video of Azur from November of 2013:

Fortunately, Ward’s sponsor, Double H Farm, had a second opportunity to acquire half of HH Azur from François Mathy in December 2014.

This time, they jumped at the chance.

Just two years later, she and Ward competed in their first major championship at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where they placed 9th individually and helped secure the team silver medal.

And the rest is history… (or at least, we covered it all in the last newsletter.)

Fond Farewell to Hermes Ryan

The legendary Hermes Ryan took his final victory lap for a packed stadium at the Grand Palais Ephemere in Paris on Saturday afternoon. It was an emotional moment with more than a few tears in the crowd as he and his partner, Simon Delester, were recognized together for the last time.

“He’s been a warrior his whole life,” said Delester. “Every time he entered the ring, he gave 300%... He’s a legendary horse, one of the best in the history of equestrian sport.”

During his impressive career that lasted over a decade, Hermes Ryan and Delestre, took top honors at the most prestigious shows across the globe.

In fact, they won several of the titles twice, including the FEI Jumping World Cup in Verona (2015 and 2021) and the Grand Prix Hermes in Paris (2018 and 2019).

Delestre credits the gelding for much of his personal success over the past ten years.

“I was No. 1 in the world rankings because of him. He’s always fighting for me, he’s always helping me and, to be honest, he’s really a part of our family now.”

Other News

Back in the United States, Kent Ferrington’s nine-year-old Zangersheide mare, Toulayna claimed her first Grand Prix victory. Ferrington has had the mare since she was seven and is quickly becoming one of his most promising mounts.

“I’m very confident on this horse and that’s the way I like to do it; get them when they are young and produce them myself so I know them quite well,” said Farrington.

So what’s next on Toulayna’s agenda?

“She’s a very high strung horse with a lot of blood and very sharp, but I try to keep the horses fresh and interested in the job because it’s a long season here. She’s done four weeks this season and I think that’s plenty. We will hit the trails now and just chill out.”

You can watch their spectacular winning round here:

Last week, we reported that Philipp would be out of action due to a mishap in his garden. It turns out that he tried to jump a hedge and twisted his ankle as he took off. He’ll be out for the next six weeks.

We really recommend he sticks to jumping horses rather than hedges!

The FEI released a statement saying that on March 15th, “The last remaining horses at the venue returned negative EHV-1 tests on 15 March, and have since left the premises.” Yay! Now we can go back to show season as usual.

Farm of The Week

In celebration of spring, we’re heading out to Conifer, Colorado for this week’s dream farm.

For just $9,500,000, you can have this stunning property complete with an indoor, eight stall barn, 20,000 square foot primary residence, and a guest house.

With nearly 50 acres, it’s perfect for horse people that prefer talking to horses rather than neighbors.

That’s it for this week!

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to: