TWO top five-star horses were retired at CHI Geneva last weekend. Eric Lamaze called a day on Fine Lady 5’s great career, while the crowd also bid farewell to Pedro Veniss’ lovely stallion Quabri de l’Isle.

Quabri, a 17-year-old stallion by Kannan, was the Rolex Grand Prix at the venue back in 2016. The beautiful chesnut was a crowd favourite around the world. He represented Brazil at two Olympic Games (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020), competed at two World Equestrian Games (2014, 2018) and three Pan American Games, winning team gold in Lima in 2019.

Their five-star Grand Prix wins include Geneva, Versailles and the Pan American Grand Prix in Spruce Meadows. Veniss said the special horse changed his career. The stallion will now begin his breeding career.

Fine Lady 5, the horse that carried Canada’s Eric Lamaze to an individual bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, was officially retired during the Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final on Friday night. The 18-year-old mare by Forsyth won the Rolex Top 10 Final at the venue in 2016, just months after her bronze medal in Rio.

“She is a great little mare with a huge heart that believed in any adventure you faced her with. She became the leading horse in my stable, with the ability to win at any height, when she wasn’t bought to be that,” Lamaze said. She will now retire in Belgium as a broodmare.