Galopin de la Font Passed Away

Breeding

Lusitano

The licensed Lusitano stallion and former Portuguese team horse Galopin de la Font passed away on 23 February 2022. He was 28 years old.

Galopin was by Espanto MTV out of Pezuda OCO (by Zorro FRI). He was bred by Sylvain Massa. The FEI listed Sylvain and Ingrid Massa as initial owners and later transferred the ownership to a company titled Espafin.

Portuguese Team Horse

The licensed stallion made his claim to fame under Daniel Pinto.

The stallion became Pinto's career starting, international Grand Prix horse, first capturing a spot on the Portuguese team for the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, where he finished 51st in the Grand Prix.

In 2007 he competed in the World Cup Final in Las Vegas, where he placed 13th in the Grand Prix and won the consolation class as only the top 11 moved on to the kur finals. Later that year he placed 40th at the European Championships in Turin and in 2008 he went to the Olympic Games in Hong Kong, where they were 32nd in the Gand Prix.

In 2009 they returned to the European Championships in Windsor and landed 42nd place in the Grand Prix.

In the spring of 2010 it was announced that Galopin de la Font had sold to Brazilian Chantal de Larragoiti Lucas. Chantal's family were the founders of the huge Brazilian insurance company SulAmerica. At his last international in his career, the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, he ended up 49th in the Grand Prix. The horse usually scored between 63 and 65% internationally.

Licensed Stallion

At the 2009 European Championships in Windsor

After his retirement from sport, Galopin de la Font continued to stand at stud and sired mainly foals bred by Massa. The stallion, who was nicknamed Pinpin, spent his retirement with Pinto in Arruda dos Vinhos, Portugal.

His offspring include the WCYH participant Malmcolm X de Masa (), small tour horses Come Back de Massa and Da Vinci de Massa and Grand Prix horse Nevado de la Font (Justin Verboomen).

"Proud, spirited, charismatic, powerful! Galopin was not only a horse, he was part of our family! He never failed making us proud," said Pinto who announced the passing of Galopin on social media. "There are horses born for greatness and that is how we will always remember Galopin! A special horse, ahead of his time! A warrior who made it all the way to top of the equestrian sports. He kept faithful to his strong and captivating personality until his last breath, this morning, at the age of 28."