19-year-old Morgan Barbançon on Spanish Olympic Team
12 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on 19-year-old Morgan Barbançon on Spanish Olympic Team
The 19-year-old Morgan Barbançon and Painted Black will join Olympic veterans Beatriz Ferrer-Salat and Delgado and Juan Manuel Muñoz and Fuego de Cárdenas on the Spanish team for the Olympics beginning in London in a month.
The Spanish dressage coach Jan Bemelmans announced the team Tuesday and the Spanish federation said the reserve will be announced after the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen. Germany next week.
The team:
–Morgan and Painted Black will be making their Olympic debut after success in the Under-25 division and then at top CDIs this year. Painted Black is a 15-year-old KWPN stallion (Gribaldi x Litchy x Ferro) that began his Grand Prix career with Anky in 2007. In four CDIs this year, including the Nations Cup in Rotterdam last week, Morgan and Painted have not finished below third place, the best resuls of any Spanish combination this year. Painted Black was competed successfully by Anky on both sides of the Atlantic, including third place finishes in the 2008 and 2009 World Cup Finals. Morgan is coached by Anky, who will be competing in London on Salinero for their third Olympics and a record seventh Games for Anky.
–Beatriz Ferrer-Salat, the most successful and experienced Spanish rider, will compete with Delgado, an 11-year-old Westfalen gelding (De Niro x Wildrose). Beatriz rode in the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, as well as winning team bronze and individual silver at the 2002 World Equestrian Games.
–Juan Manuel Muñoz and Fuego de Cárdenas, 14-year-old P.R.E. stallion (Utrerano VII x Mundana x Elegido III), rode in the 2008 Beijing Games but their greatest success was at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky where the gray stallion and the flamboyant rider captured the hearts of the crowd.
