SHANE Sweetnam’s European gold medal-winning mount Chaqui Z has been retired to stud after a touching retirement ceremony at the National Horse Show in Lexington last week before the Longines FEI World Cup qualifier.

The 15-year-old stallion, who is owned by Sweetnam’s great supporters Spy Coast Farm, was a stalwart of the Irish senior show jumping team for a number of years and was part of the brilliant team who won gold at the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg, as well as jumping at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon.

By Chacco-Blue, he was bred at Zangersheide Stud and spent his early years being produced in Europe by Gerben Morsink; he qualified for the FEI World Breeding Championships in Lanaken as a five-, six- and seven-year-old.

At the end of his seven-year-old year, he was purchased by Lisa Lourie’s Spy Coast Farm and went from strength to strength with Sweetnam in the saddle. Their notable results include winning the Nations Cup and four-star Grand Prix in the same week at the Winter Equestrian Festival in 2017, as well as the Grand Prix in Lexington and at the American Gold Cup show at the Hamptons.

Following a quiet 2020 due to Covid-19, the team made the decision to retired Chaqui Z to stud. He is the only son of Chacco-Blue available fresh in the USA and has covered over 200 mares over the years.

Pony Tales wishes Chaqui Z a happy and healthy retirement!