Spanish Olympian and team rider Morgan Barbançon Mestre has received the ride on the 7-year old Lusitano stallion Dragao from owner Antonio Simoes.
Dragao will join Morgan's string of Grand Prix horses in Weert, The Netherlands, next week. He will be the rising star alongside confirmed Grand Prix horses Girasol and Vitana V. Morgan retired her top horse Painted Black after the 2015 European Championships last August.
The grey Lusitano stallion Dragao is bred at Simoes' farm Figueiras and is by Unico out of Valeria.
The stallion was trained and competed from novice level to international small tour level by Spanish rider Jose Antonio Garcia Mena. Dragao moved back to Portugal at the end of September after Mena failed to get a contract to secure the future ride on the stallion.
The horse will now continue its career under Morgan Barbançon as the Barbançon family has reached an agreement with Simoes.
"We are friends with Mr Antonio Simoes and he gave Dragao to me to ride,"Barbançon told Eurodressage. "Hopefully (we'll) have a fun partnership in the future. I'm really excited about him. It's a new challenge and such a talented horse, together with Andreas (Helgstrand) we are going to make a solid program for him and see where is best to start him "
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