Delatio, Multi-Rider Grand Prix Horse, Passed Away

Dressage

Malaysia

Delatio, a licensed breeding stallion who got to compete in the international FEI ring with a string of multiple riders, has passed away. He was 22 years old.

Delatio was a Hanoverian stallion by De Niro out of St. Pr. St. Rubina (by Rubinstein x Diplomat). He was bred by Ulrike and Reinhold Bosse.

From Germany to Holland

The black was discovered as a foal by Bernhard Schaerffer, who acquired it as a price highlight at the Verden Foal Auction in 2004. He was licensed for breeding with the Hanoverian society and won the 70-day performance test in Adelheidsdorf.

Under Hannes Baumgart he qualified for the 2007 Bundeschampionate, where he finished 10th in the 3-year old stallion warm-up round.

In the winter of 2007-2008 Delatio sold to The Netherlands to Miranda Rongen and Dutch company Decor Son.

To Hof Kasselmann

Ulrich Kasselmann then bought Delatio in Holland and sold it to his Russian client Elena Knyaginicheva.

The stallion returned to the show ring at Grand Prix level under Bianca Kasselmann in the spring of 2017. However, it was under British Emile Faurie that the stallion reached its full potential as an international Grand Prix horse. The pair won the 2017 Hamburg Dressage Derby and the horse achieved its first stellar score at the 2017 World Cup Qualifier in London, where they finished second cracking the 80% for the first time with 80.405%. They qualified for the 2018 World Cup Finals in Paris, but a small injury right before the show kept them home.

After Faurie opted to ride his other Grand Prix horse Dono di Maggio on the bronze medal winning British team at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, Delatio moved to Patrik Kittel's yard to be sold. Kittel also achieved 80% Kur scores on the talented stallion at the World Cup qualifiers in Lyon and Salzburg.

Olympic Race for Malaysia

Delatio sold to Malaysian Qabil Ambak via his trainer, Danish Grand Prix rider Dennis Fisker, with the mission to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Qabil showed the horse extensively in 2019 - i.e. 12 CDI's in 10 months time - to obtain Olympic ranking points. The pair showed in Lillestrom (NOR), Zakrzow (POL), Sint-Truiden (BEL), Kristiansand (NOR), Leudelange (LUX), Falsterbo (SWE), Cappeln (GER), Verden (GER), and then went to Kharkiv (UKR) and Minsk (BLR), followed by Salzburg (AUT) and Frankfurt (GER).

In 2020 Ambak returned home to Malaysia with his MER scores in his pocket, but Malaysia did not obtain an Olympic slot in Group G: Korea and New Zealand did. So Dennis Fisker rode the stallion in the CDI's in Lillestrom and Aarhus, but then the corona pandemic started and the Olympics were postponed.

In June 2021 the FEI announced that a spot had freed up for Malaysia, but Ambak hadn't competed his horse in 1.5 years and rushed last minute to Europe to get his two 66% scores again. He showed in Le Mans but only got 64% and gave up his Olympic dream.

That was Delatio's last international show.

Schoolmaster in Denmark

Delatio stayed with Fisker in Denmark who, in 2023, let Carl-Christian Saedder Savola ride the horse in an Intermediaire II class at a national show in Silkeborg, where the pair scored 62.237%.

In 2024 the 20-year old Delatio became an Under 25 professor for Danish young rider Johanne Amby Ubbesen at Nordentoft equestrian center. The pair competed in two national shows in May 2024. In Aalborg in an Inter 2 test and at the 2024 Danish Under 25 Championships, where they finished 12th.

Delatio, howvever, was returned to Fisker and in 2025 was matched to his student Sophia Obel Jorgensen. In January 2025 she made her show debut on Delatio in an Intermediaire II test at the 2025 CDN Esbjerg finishing second with 69.562%. She rode a second Inter II test two days later and scored 68.245%. Their last show as a pair, and the stallion's last in his carer was on 21 March 2025 at a home show in Randbøl, where they got 67.632%

Sad Farewell

The stallion enjoyed 1.5 years of retirement from competition sport. He passed away on 25 October 2026.

Ambak posted, "Thank you for every win, every lesson, and every memory we shared. You gave me your heart every time you stepped into that arena, and you made me a better rider with the bond we have created throughout the years. Enjoy your well-earned rest, my champion. You will always be my horse of a lifetime."

Fisker, who managed Delatio, in his last few years, added, "you brought joy to so many riders throughout your career. In recent years, you enjoyed your well-earned retirement here with us, although you sometimes found it hard to remember that you were now retired and no longer an active breeding stallion."