FACTFILE:

NAME: Romanov

AGE: 19

BREEDING: KWPN - Heartbreaker x Fedor

BREEDER: Gebr Bosch, Luttenberg, The Netherlands

OWNER: Billy Twomey and Bert Allen

RIDER: Bertram Allen

Romanov (born on May 3rd, 1998) was bred in The Netherlands by Gebr Bosch and bought by Tracey Forrest in 2000 as a two-year-old. He was broken, ridden and produced by Britain’s Philip Spivey as a youngster. In 2005, as a seven-year-old, Romanov won the Foxhunter Championship at the Horse of the Year show in Birmingham before going on to represent Great Britain on the winning Nations Cup team at Lisbon and Linz. That combination also finished sixth in the $1 million Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows, Calgary, in 2010.

Ireland’s Billy Twomey bought Romanov from Forrest in 2011. The pair were members of the winning Nations Cup team in La Baule later that year, as well as recording a number of top international results.

However, it was with young Bertram Allen that the Heartbreaker stallion flourished. After welcoming Romanov to his string in March 2013, when Allen was still just 17, they recorded their first win together at Ebreichsdorf, Austria, a month later. It was Romanov that Allen rode in his senior Nations Cup debut and from there the fairy tale partnership went from strength to strength. Romanov will now retire to The Stallion Company in Ashbourne, Co Meath, where he will return to breeding.

TOP RESULTS

May 2013: Allen makes his senior Nations Cup debut at Linz CSIO**** riding Romanov and jumps a double clear round

June 2013: Wins the 1.50m Grand Prix at CSI*** Vimeiro

August 2013: Wins the 1.50/1.60m Irish Sports Council Classic at Dublin CSIO*****

August 2013: Wins the 1.50m Grand Prix qualifier at CSI*** Milstreet, Cork

June 2014: Fifth in the Shanghai Global Champions Tour

July 2014: Second in the Longines King George V Gold Cup at Hickstead CSIO*****

August 2014: Third in the 1.60m Serpentine Speed Stakes at Dublin CSIO*****

September 2014: Third in the 1.50/1.55m class at the Global Champions Tour in Lausanne

February 2015: Wins World Cup qualifier at Bordeaux and receives a five-minute standing ovation from the French crowd

March 2015: Wins the Dortmund Grand Prix CSI***

April 2015: Wins the Prix Hermes Sellier at the Saut Hermes CSI***** Paris

May 2015: Fifth in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Madrid

July 2015: Wins the Global Champions Tour of Paris, becoming the youngest ever rider to win a leg of the tour

August 2015: Part of the Aga Khan-winning Irish squad at the RDS

October 2015: (Class took place in May) Declared the winner of the five-star La Baule Grand Prix after Swiss rider Steve Guerdaut was disqualified due to poppy seed contamination in the feed of his top horse, Nino Des Buissonnets

March 2016: For second successive year, wins the 1.50m speed class Prix Hermes Sellier at Saut Hermes CSI***** Paris

April 2016: Equal second place with France’s Penelope Leprevost in a 1.50/1.55m at the Longines Global Champions Tour in Antwerp

July 2016: Fourth place in the 1.55m Germany Prize of AachenMünchener CSI5* Aachen

November 2016: Helped Team Valkenswaard United to secure the inaugural Global Champions League in Doha

JUMPING OFFSPRING:

Kasparov (2009 Romanov x Kannan) – Winner of one-star Grand Prix at Palaiseau, France, May 2016 (Philip Spivey)

Romalette (2009 Romanov x Canaletto) - Jumping at 1.45m level (John Crippen)

Galway Bay Jed (2008 Romanov x Lux) – Jumping at 1.50m Grand Prix level (Harriet Nuttall)

Sharapova (2007 Romanov x Kannan) – Jumping at 1.35m level (Philip Spivey)

Romanella Gold (2007 Romanov x Slyguff Gold) – Jumping at 1.50m level (Dale Burnham)

Smirnov (2006 Romanov x Kannan) – Winner of the two-star Grand Prix at Vimeiro, Portugal, July 2016 (Philip Spivey)

WATCH some of Romanov's jumping highlights below

Everyone at The Irish Field wishes the Ginger Ninja, as he is fondly known as, a happy and healthy retirement.