Cian O’Connor’s Olympic horse Blue Loyd sold abroad

Irish showjumper Cian O’Connor’s London 2012 Olympic bronze medal-winning ride Blue Loyd has been sold.

The 12-year-old Landor S gelding, who Cian bought from Norwegian showjumper Nina Braaten in November 2011, has been sold to Austrian-Canadian businessman Frank Stronach.

“It’s a shame to lose the horse, but my job is to run a business as well as compete and the money raised from this sale will go towards sourcing young horses to get to Rio,” Cian told H&H. “I wish him success — he’s without doubt the best horse I’ve ridden and had such a will to win.”

Billionaire Frank Stronach is the founder of multi-national automotive company Magna International, has a strong involvement in Canadian and US horseracing and owns Magna Racino show centre in Austria.

It is not yet confirmed who Blue Loyd’s new rider will be, but Cian is taking the horse to USA in February in order to assist with the handover process.

“Mr Stronach is a great horse enthusiast and I think he saw qualities in Blue Loyd that he liked,” said Cian. “I’ll be travelling all my horses to USA in February and Blue Loyd will be on that plane — the investors are keen to give me the opportunity to help the new rider to gel with him.”

Jennifer Donald

H&H showjumping editor

Jennifer is passionate at showjumping and her role as H&H’s showjumping editor has taken her around the world reporting from shows and interviewing riders, connections and those involved behind the scenes. Since joining H&H from BBC Sport in 2005, she has written on every subject across the equestrian sphere — from turnout rugs to stable management — and has interviewed gold medallists, world champions and winners galore. She also has first-hand experience of working in the equestrian industry as a riding instructor and yard manager.