MICHAEL Duffy’s Nations Cup mount Belcanto Z has been sold.
The 11-year-old Berlin-sired gelding, who carried Duffy to his first five-star senior Nations Cup team, has been sold to Karl Schneider’s stables in Germany. Sweden’s Henrick von Eckermann is based in Schneider’s yard, but it is not yet known who will ride the gelding.
Speaking to The Irish Field this morning, Duffy, who had been named on the squad for Rome this week, said: “It’s obviously quite sad but that’s the sport.
“It all came about after the Nations Cup in La Baule. I would like to thank his owners Alan and Maja Burnell for the opportunity to compete him. He is an incredible horse.
“The plan changes now. I have some very good young horses and I have to try find the next superstar,” he added.
Duffy took up the ride on Belcanto Z in the middle of last summer and the pair won the Grand Prix at their first show together. He was third in the four-star Grand Prix at Liverpool in January and eighth in the five-star Grand Prix at Al Ain last March.
It was in Al Ain that Duffy made his five-star team debut, jumping a clear second round, before being selected for Lummen, where they completed with a clear first round. Their last show together was the Division 1 points scoring Nations Cup La Baule, where they performed brilliantly to complete with a single time fault in the first round.
Swiss-based Thomas Ryan travelled to the five-star show in Rome this week in Duffy’s place.