THE Badminton-winning event horse Chilli Morning sadly died this week, aged 20.

Hailed as the most successful eventing stallion of all time, he was ridden at multiple championships by Britain’s William Fox-Pitt and is the only stallion to have won Badminton, a victory that came in 2015.

By Phantomic and bred in Germany by Rainer Schicketanz, Chilli Morning won individual bronze at the 2013 European Championships in Malmö, Sweden, under Fox-Pitt, before they went on to win individual bronze and team silver at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Caen, France.

After Fox-Pitt made a comeback fro a head injury to get to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, the pair led after dressage and produced a clear show jumping round, but 20 penalties on cross-country day saw them finish 12th, a remarkable achievement given Fox-Pitt’s seriousness of the injury just months beforehand.

Chilli was retired after Rio to focus on his breeding career and stood at West Kington Stud before returning home to his owners, Christopher and Lisa Stone.

Stone, co-founder of the lucrative Event Rider Masters, has three clones of the stallion at his 400-acre Tattleton Estate in West Sussex and they will be used for breeding in the future.

Writing on Twitter on Tuesday, Stone said Chilli “had been hacking as normal yesterday, and was in his turnout paddock this morning when he collapsed. He died instantly. He leaves us with the best memories.”

William Fox-Pitt said: “Chilli was a truly fantastic horse. How lucky was I to have ridden him for five years? As the first ever stallion to win Badminton he will never be forgotten, and he really deserves his place in the history books. What a life he has had and just how much he gave me and everyone here at Fox-Pitt Eventing.

“Thank goodness he was a stallion and we have therefore got his progeny to follow. Chris and Lisa Stone have even got three Chilli clones, so watch this space. Also I have got a foal arriving next year by him so it will be lovely to have the memory continued. Having retired from his stud duties, how good was it for him to go so quickly and with no suffering.

“I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sympathy and best wishes to the Stone family and everyone at Tattleton who made Chilli’s life so comfortable.”