The 2015 Badminton winning stallion Chilli Morning, owned by Christopher Stone and his wife Lisa, will be retiring from competition now that the Rio 2016 Olympic Games are over
William Fox-Pitt and the chestnut stallion finished the event as they started it, on a high. They led the eventing competition after the dressage but an unfortunate 20 penalties incurred when crossing their tracks on cross country, put an end to their hopes of winning a medal. They showed their class however by returning on Sunday and jumping two foot-perfect clear rounds
Before the Olympics William indicated that Rio may be Chilli’s last outing and he confirmed it during the event
“He’s given me a lot in his life and he doesn’t owe me anything” said William “He has not put a foot wrong for a long time”
Chilli, who has produced some lovely youngsters currently campaigned by Gemma Tattersall, will now stand at stud. Although William will have no involvement in this part of his career, he admits that he is re-considering
“When I took him on Chris said that I could manage all the riding but I would have nothing to do with the breeding side of things. At the time I couldn’t care less about the breeding but that was five years ago and of course things have changed since then! I’m a bit older and a bit more sentimental about Chilli, so who knows?”
Hopefully there will be an official retirement ceremony for Chilli Morning in the future but we will miss the very laid back eventing stallion
William and a relaxed Chilli await the presentation of their silver medal in Normandy
