We pay tribute to a superstar horse, meet a baby Big Star and more
We pay tribute to the showjumping superstar Baloubet Du Rouet, reveal a new destination on the Global Champions Tour and meet a baby Big Star
THE legendary stallion Baloubet Du Rouet has died at the age of
28. The stunning selle Français son of Galoubet A x Starter goes down in history as one of the most successful showjumpers of all time, most famously known for his partnership with Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa, before going on to become one of the most successful breeding stallions in the world.
Baloubet was bred in France by Louis Fardin and originally produced through young horse classes by Nelson Pessoa, with whom he also competed at the 1998 WEG in Rome, finishing 11th. But it was at the end of that year that Nelson’s son Rodrigo took the reins. They scored a hat-trick of World Cup victories, reigning from 1998-2000 — the only horse-rider combination to achieve such a feat — and narrowly missing out on a fourth by finishing second in 2001. The pair won individual Olympic gold at Athens in 2004 and team bronze at Sydney in 2000.
In his career, Baloubet Du Rouet competed in 263 top level competitions, finishing in the first five in 68% of them and winning 24%. Among the grand prix trophies with his name on are Bordeaux, Geneva and Paris.
He retired from the ring in 2006 at the age of 17, but has gone on to be one of the most influential and successful sires in the world, named the leading sire of jumping horses by the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) in 2012 and 2013.
“He arrived as a wild fiveyear-old kid but showed a lot of potential on the very first jump,” said Rodrigo. “The start was not easy but he was so intelligent that he understood everything very quickly. He grew up to become one of the greatest horses in history. Talent, beauty, energy, power, skill and elegance made him the best.”
Since 2010 he had lived with his owners Nicole and Diogo Coutinho Pereira in Portugal and his genius lives on through the likes of Ludger Beerbaum’s great stallion Chaman and Jur Vrieling’s VDL Bubalu.