Saudi rider buys another top horse from Eurocommerce auction [H&H VIP]
Saudi showjumper Abdullah Al Sharbatly has bought a 4th horse from the bankrupt Eurocommerce stables — Gerco Schröder’s former ride New Orleans for €150,000 (£122,268).
New Orleans was offered in a previous online auction on 8 April. Buyers bid €210,000 (£171,175) but the price was deemed too low. His sale details for the 2nd auction said he “requires medical support” to compete and that “he has not been trained anymore since March”.
Abdullah, who is based in Holland, told H&H that New Orleans is sound and that he will be aiming him for the World Equestrian Games.
“I am 100% sure that he is in good health,” he said.
Abdullah was on the Saudi team that won team bronze at London 2012. He served a reduced 2-month ban in 2012 when his ride Lobster 43 tested positive for banned drugs, had already bought three horses — including Tobalio in the first sale (news, 8 May).
Abdullah bought top British ride Sultan V to ride at London but the horse has not competed internationally since February.
“I plan to have a very strong string of good horses,” he said. “In the past two years I have not had enough horses.”
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A further 8 horses that were not offered last time and former elite showjumper Cleveland were also sold.
There was concern that Cleveland was being auctioned again, as he has not competed since 2013 due to health issues. Ukrainian showjumper Katarina Offel put out a call on Facebook asking for people not to bid on him so that she could buy him in order to retire him.
“He deserves a good home for the rest of his life,”she said.
Cleveland sold for €17,500 and it is still unclear whether she managed to buy the horse.
4 retired horses were sold in the original auction, but the Schröders managed to buy them back.
It has now emerged that Zangersheide stud in Belgium bought retired showjumper, Montreal, to be cloned.
“We have collected the cells to clone him and the horse has now returned to the Schröder family where he will enjoy his retirement,” the stud’s Tom Lemmens told H&H.
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Sophia Heath joined Horse & Hound in July 2013 having previously worked for the Daily Telegraph's Olympics website, CNN International and Omnisport. A Durham graduate with a Masters in journalism from City University, Sophia has evented, showjumped and hunted. Sophia left Horse & Hound in early 2015 to join an international boating website.