Cupido PB, Maxime Collard's Tokyo Olympic Team Horse, Retired from Sport

Dressage

France

French Grand Prix rider Maxime Collard has retired Cupido from sport. He was her French team horse at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Cupido is a 19-year old Dutch warmblood stallion by Painted Black out of Twoolya PB (by Jazz x Roemer). He is bred by the late Petra Bijvelds.

Licensed Stallion

Cupido PB is bred out of a successful KWPN dam line which produced more international FEI level horses including Dynamo PB (by Painted Black - under Ellen Trouille) and Boolya PB (by Krack C - under Yoshie Ota)

He was licensed as a breeding stallion with Selle Français in France in 2021 based on his merits in sport.

Celine Rozé

Cupido PB sold as a a 3-year old to French osteopath and amateur dressage rider Celine Rozé, who trained and competed the horse under the supervision of her friend and trainer Maxime Collard.

"There was a picture of him on a website for young horses for sale, and I immediately fell in love," Rozé told Le Parisien. "The idea was for him to take me to small competitions, up to small tour level. There was no question of competing at a very high level at the beginning."

Rozé and Collard spotted more talent in Cupido and when the horse was seven they decided to see if more was possible. Collard took over the ride.

"It was a big decision because I no longer got to ride my horse, but I trust him completely," said Rozé. "I wouldn't have done it with just anyone. I've had several offers to buy him, but I refused. I don't intend to sell him."

Maxime Collard

Cupido PB was trained and competed at Grand Prix level by Maxime Collard.

They made their international big tour debut at the CDI Le Mans in February 2018. They scored 61.500% in their first CDI Grand Prix test. Half a year later they returned at the CDI Saumur in September 2018 and still struggled with low marks, 61.978%. They were 8th at the 2018 French Grand Prix Championships.

However, as of 2019 they found their strides and slowly the marks began to climb. They gained mileage in Deauville and in 2020 competed at the CDI Le Mans. They were 6th at the 2020 French Grand Prix Championships.

In the 2021 Olympic year they campaigned in Le Mans, Grote Brogel, Compiegne and Le Mans and with a GP personal best score of 71.848% they were selected on the French Olympic team for Tokyo, where they were 33rd in the Grand Prix with 69.068%. Six weeks later they competed at the European Championships inHagen and were 59th in the Grand Prix with 65.326%.

In 2022 the duo showed in Opglabbeek, Le Mans and Compiegne, but did not make the team after missing out on the French Championships due to an injury. In 2023 thy showed in Le Mans, Deauville and Ermelo, after which an almost two year break from international competitions followed. The duo returned at the CDI Deauville in July 2025 to ride their last international.

Retirement

The now 19-year old Cupido PB has been retired from competition sport.

Collard admitted she needed a period of adapting herself to the idea of retirement after the CDI Deauville.

"In Deauville I thought it was probably our last international competition because I'm always afraid of doing one competition too many. He's the horse of my life, and I don't want his points to drop too much," she told Eurodressage. "But I wanted to leave myself the option of competing in national competitions again... and then at the start of this season, we did things differently. He hates staying home when the kids go to competitions (he can sulk for a week when I get back), so he comes with us, but it's his owner who plays with him. I think all three of us are delighted with this situation... so I think I can now say that yes, he's retired from competition."

Cupido is not stuck at home in the field, but is still being lightly ridden by Celine for fun.

"He's really very funny in competition training," Maxime smiled. "Now, if he wants to work, he works; if he doesn't, he goes for a walk! He's the boss."