The 4 Most Expensive Horses in the World
American Hard Assets recently ranked the world’s most expensive horses. But I think they forgot one…
[Top picture: Karen Jones Gowen]
Ever wondered who the most valuable racing and show horses in the world are? Well, American Hard Assets, a site for investors, has got you covered…kind of.
“One of the leading horses in the derbies. Seattle Dancer got a great speed and capacity of fast running in between the racing limits . One of the most expensive breed eating horses of the world today.”
I don’t even want to know what a breed eating horse is.
An attempt at describing dressage: “Poetin is one big horse that has made a lot of differences not only in speed but also to carry on the same pace.”
Clearly, the list was not written by a horse person. So I did a little research of my own.
4. Most Expensive Dressage Horse: Though the exact sale price was never disclosed, in 2010 sporthorse breeder Paul Schockemöhle bought Moorlands Totilas for somewhere in the ballpark of $9.5 million to $15 million (you know, rounding error).
[Wikimedia Commons:Roland Hitze/CC]
While the price is staggering, it’s not entirely surprising. Even despite controversy of his trainers using Rollkur, by any measure Totilas had a record-breaking career, winning five gold medals at the World and European Championships. He was the first dressage horse to score above a 90%, reaching an all-time high score of 92.30% at the Olympia 2009 FEI World Cup Dressage series, a record only recently broken by Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro in December 2013. Totilas’ get have sold for as high as $44,000 as an embryo…so his new owner is likely to continue raking in the cash, even despite the hefty price tag on Totilas himself.
3. Most Expensive Showjumper: Palloubet d’Halong, a Selle Francais sired by Roderigo Pessoa’s mount Baloubet du Rouet, was sold to Jan Tops, a trainer for the Qatari equestrian team, for $15.2 million in October 2013. It was originally thought that Jan Tops bought the horse for his wife Edwina Tops-Alexander, but so far the horse has been ridden by 32-year-old Ali Yousef al-Rumaihi in CSI2* competition.
2. Most Expensive Racehorse Prospect: Last year, Al Shaqab Racing bought a Thoroughbred filly sired by Galileo for $8.4 million on behalf of the Qatari royal family. They already own her full sister Was, who won the 2012 Epsom Oaks in the UK.
1. However, the most expensive horse of all, as we all know…is a free one.
Go Riding.
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