G-Star, Finnish Team Horse and National Champion, Sold to Belgium

Dressage

Belgium

G-Star, Ville Vaurio's Finnish team horse and 2023 Finnish Grand Prix Champion, has been sold to Belgium. The Fairchild family acquired him as a Paris Olympic team hopeful for Alexa Fairchild.

He is a 13-year old Dutch warmblood by Delatio out of Revanche (by Krack C x Zeoliet) and bred by H. Rongen in The Netherlands.

Ville Vaurio

Finnish professional dressage rider Ville Vaurio found G-Star for owner Sanna Suominen in the spring of 2019 through his former employer, Henri Ruoste, for whom he worked for a while. G-Star moved to Finland and was first ridden and competed by the owner under the watchful eyes of Vaurio. Sanna also trained with Ruoste in Germany, for instance in the winter of 2019-2020.

An orthodontist by profession, Sanna decided to give the ride on G-Star to Vaurio to establish him further at Grand Prix level. In October 2022 the horse competed in its first national Grand Prix class and in March 2023 they debuted at international Grand Prix level at the CDI Ypaja, where they placed second in the Grand Prix with 70.022%. From there they went to the CDI in Parnu (EST), where they won the Grand Prix, followed by the 2023 Nordic Baltic Championships in Drammen (NOR), where the pair placed second in the Grand Prix and won the Freestyle.

Vaurio and G-Star were nominated as team reserve pair for the 2023 European Championships in Riesenbeck after they won the Finnish Grand Prix Championships, undefeated in the Grand Prix (70.696%) and Freestyle (74.895%). When Finnish team selected Henri Ruosti withdraw him Campari from the Europeans, reserve rider Vaurio was able to make his championship debut. At the 2023 Europeans in Riesenbeck they finished 50th with 67.981% in the Grand Prix.

Sold to Belgium as Fairplay

G-Star stayed in Germany with Henri Ruoste to be sold even though Finland seems to have secured a team spot for the 2024 Olympics in Paris with a composite team. The horse found a new owner in Belgian Grand Prix rider Alexa Fairchild who has renamed him Fairplay.

With Fairchild at the 2021 European Championships

Fairchild is a seasoned Belgian team rider. As a youth rider, from ponies through young riders, she represented Belgium at nine (!) European Championships. In 2020 they purchased Grand Prix schoolmaster Dabanos D'O4 who took her from Under 25 into the senior ranks. In 2021 the Belgian Equestrian Federation nominated Fairchild and Dabanos as their traveling team reserve for Tokyo. The experienced fuelled Alexa's fire to try for a second Olympics in Paris. They represented Belgium at the 2021 European Dressage Championships in Hagen were 62nd in the Grand Prix with 65.047%. Between 2020 and 2022 they were fifth, fourth, and eighth at the Belgian Grand Prix Championships. Dabanos was retired from top level sport in 2023 at age 20.

In the past two years Fairchild family invested heavily in young dressage horses. They bought Nacho (by Secret x Tango) who won the 2022 Belgian Young Horse Championships under trainer Larissa Pauluis and the 2023 Championships with Alexa in the saddle. Assistant rider Margaux Nicolay rode their Odin (by Furst Toto x United) in the 4-year old challenge at the 2023 World Young Horse Championships. They also acquired the KWPN licensed stallion Ladignac (by Zonik x Apache) who has been gelded to be focused on sport, and the rising Grand Prix horse Mala Skala's Hermes (originally named Habil MT, by Assírio d’Atela x Quarteto da Brôa) from Alizee Froment, with whom she scored twice over 70% at national shows in Belgium. They made their CDI debut in Le Mans in October and posted 65.261% in the Grand Prix.

Fairchild trains with Larissa Pauluis and Norbert van Laak.

Olympic Fire

With Hermes and Fairplay Alexa will have two irons in the fire as Paris Olympic hopefuls.

"Alexa has been looking for a second GP horse for two years now and the match was great," the Fairchild family told Eurodressage. "Alexa will compete Fairplay and Mala Skala’s Hermes this season in tandem. She is beyond thrilled and excited for the season."

On a professional level fashion designer Alexa Fairchild won the pitch for the Belgian Olympic Committee (BOIC) to design the Team Belgium delegation outfits for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In December they premiered the collection with a big fashion show at Zaventem airport.