Beauville Z N.O.P. is Global Champions League Horse of the Year

Last weekend, the O2 Arena in Prague formed for the fifth time the setting for the famous Prague Playoffs, the grand finale of the Longines Global Champions Tour. The sporting highlights of the weekend were of course the Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix on Saturday evening and the final of the team competition of the Global Champions League on Sunday, but on Wednesday evening the GCL Season Awards were already presented.

One of the categories was the prize for the 'GCL Horse Of The Year' and that honor went to the 13-year-old gelding Beauville Z N.O.P., the son of Bustique and Jumpy des Fontaines who was bred by Pascal and Monique Habets and the absolute top horse of the Dutch rider Maikel van der Vleuten. The 2023 season was another top year for the bronze medalists of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Individually there was of course their victory at the LGCT Grand Prix of Cannes, but they also had an important contribution to the success of the Madrid In Motion team. For example, with Madrid In Motion there were two team victories, five podium finishes, a clear rate percentage of 69.2% and an average of only 1.2 penalties per round.

Maikel van der Vleuten:” We have worked together with Marta for many years, and it's fantastic to have her supporting us and helping us get the results. These are the moments we do it all for.”

Father Eric van der Vleuten, picked up the award for the breeders Pascal and Monique Habets and explained: “Everyone knows many people are breeding many horses and it’s not easy to breed a horse at this level, we are talking about the highest level. This is a huge achievement for the Habets.”

LGCT Super Grand Prix

With their victory in Cannes, van der Vleuten and Beauville Z N.O.P. were of course also one of the participants of the LGCT Super Grand Prix. They managed to remain clear during the first round and after a fault during the second and decisive round they ultimately secured a 6th place in the rankings.