At age 19 after a brilliant career, Ballaghmor Class will leave the arena for good, his rider, Oliver Townend has announced.
He described “Thomas” as the horse is known, “as one of the most successful event horses in history and a phenomenal partner and teammate to me.”
Citing “Thomas’s consistency at the top level of the sport,” Oliver noted the flea-bitten grey’s brilliance has been well-documented.
“He won Burghley on his CCI5* debut at just 10 years old and from there, went from strength to strength to achieve a further three titles at the top level, plus an Olympic team gold medal at Tokyo 2020. He completed 13 five-star events in his career and finished in the top-five 11 times”.
In the U.S., his victories included the MARS Maryland and Kentucky 5-stars. His final start was last October in the Pau, France, 5-star, where he finished twenty-first. Thomas is an Irish Sport Horse by the Holsteiner Courage II.
Oliver said, “Thank you to Thomas’s owners, Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan for supporting the fantastic journey that we have all been on together with this incredibly special horse, and to our team who have looked after him so beautifully over the last 14 years.”
Thomas will make his final bow at a retirement ceremony in the main arena a the Defender Burghley Horse Trials Sept. 6. He won that testing 5-star twice, most recently in 2023.