Gareth Hughes' Sintano van Hof Olympia Retired from Sport

Dressage

Great Britain

Gareth Hughes has retired Sintano van Hof Olympia, his British team ride at the 2021 European Championships.

Sintano van Hof Olympia is 15-year old Oldenburg gelding by Sandro Hit out of KWPN mare P. Siltana van Hof Olympia (by Silvano N x Calypso III).

Dutch Beginnings

He is bred by Henk Poettgens in Alterweerterheide, The Netherlands and goes back on foundation mare I Natana van ten Bosch (by latano x Carneval), who was best known as an international competition horse under Jeanette Haazen and Yvonne Losos de Muniz. Losos renamed her Inatana Las Marismas.

Inatana produced La Quintana van Hof Olympia (by Calypso III) who then produced P. Siltana (by Silvano N). She gave birth to Sintano (by Sandro Hit).

Sintano has five full siblings, including full brother Santano, who is a licensed stallion. Half brother Hotmail V (by Apache out of La Quintana) is an international Under 25 horse under Daphne van Peperstraten).

He sold as a foal for 4,200 euro at the 2010 SELL Foal auction to Ralf van Venrooij, the stable manager of Rinus Blom's stable De Grient in Etten-Leur and the horse briefly went by the name Blom's Sintano. He was presented at the pre-selection for the 2013 KWPN Stallion Licensing but did not picked. He also presented him at the 2013 Oldenburg Saddle Licensing in Vechta but not licensed.

He was first competed by Annemiek van Venrooij-Mathijssen in 2014, finishing 21st in the 2014 VSN Trophy Final, before moving up to M2 level in 2015

Gareth Hughes

Under Annemiek van Venrooij at the 2015 CDN Etten-Leur

Sintano sold to Gareth Hughes and Judy Firmston-Williams. The horse made his national show debut in the UK in May 2016 at medium level.

In 2017 the pair finished 6th at medium level at the British Championships, a year later they were 7th at Advanced Medium Level.

In 2019 the pair moved to small tour level and made its international show debut at the CDI Hartpury, where they won the Prix St Georges and placed second in the Inter I. They also competed in Keysoe and Le Mans, winning all six international tests. At the 2019 British Championships they were second in the Prix St Georges and won the Inter I.

International Grand Prix debut in Opglabbeek 2021

They moved up to Grand Prix level in 2020 with three national starts and their international big tour debut was in 2021 at the CDI Opglabbeek, where they posted 74.196% in their first Grand Prix. At the CDI Wellington Heckfield they posted 73.783%. They were the travelling alternates for the Tokyo Olympics and six weeks later were invited to compete on the team at the 2021 European Championships in Hagen, where Great Britain won team silver. The pair placed 15th in the Grand Prix Special (73.723%) but as fourth Brit did not make it to the freestule.

The horse's last competition year was in 2022. They showed in Le Mans and Wellington Heckfield for three out of four international wins. Sintano's last show was in September 2022 at the British National Championships, in which he placed third in the Grand Prix and won the Freestyle, making them the overall big tour champions.

Retirement

Sintano van Hof Olympia disappeared from the show ring.

In November 2023 Eurodressage inquired about a possible retirement, but at the time the door was still left open.

"He’s in the field with us enjoying semi-retirement with his old buddy Classic Sandman," Rebecca Hughes told Eurodressage back then. "At the moment, he’s just enjoying his time out but you never know. He had an injury, not sure of the outcome yet."

This week Hughes confirmed that Sintano is fully enjoying a happy retired life in the field.

"He’s fat and happy in our field with the young horses. He’s earned his retirement," said Rebecca.