BERTRAM Allen announced the retirement of Romanov, his “horse of a lifetime” earlier this week. The 19-year-old chesnut stallion was last seen in competitive action at the Global Champions League in Doha last November, when Allen and his teammate John Whitaker were crowned champions. Romonov (Heartbreaker x Fedor) was bred in The Netherlands by Gebr Bosch 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 teams at Lisbon and Linz.

Ireland’s Billy Twomey bought Romanov in 2011 and the pair were members of the winning 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 at Linz and from there the fairy tale partnership went from strength to strength. Highlights include winning the World Cup qualifier in Bordeaux in February 2015 and in July 2015, Allen became the youngest ever rider to win a leg of the Global Champions Tour when Romanov triumphed in Paris.

The combination were part of the winning Aga Khan team at the Dublin Horse Show in 2015 and numerous other five-star wins include the La Baule Grand Prix and back-to-back wins at Saut Hermes in Paris.

Allen credits Romanov with launching his professional career, saying: “Romanov really was the horse of my lifetime. He was introduced to me by my friend Billy Twomey and played a huge part in launching my career. Romanov has everything anyone could wish for in a horse, and he gave me his best always.”

With proven offspring already on the ground, Romanov will now return to breeding at The Stallion Company in Ashbourne, Co Meath.

Casall Ask (Caretino x Lavall I), another legendary show jumping stallion, ridden by Sweden’s world number 14 Rolf Göran-Bengtsson, has also begun to wind down his international career. Following a ceremony at the five-star show in Gothenburg last weekend, where he said goodbye to his Swedish fans, the 17-year-old stallion will be officially retired at the Global Champions Tour of Hamburg in May.

Meanwhile, Laura Kraut’s long-time partner Cedric was honoured in a retirement ceremony before the FEI Nations Cup in Wellington, Florida, last night. Kraut partnered the 19-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Chambertin 3 x Carolus II) for 12 years, winning team gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.