WITH over €1.5 million in prize money and after an international career, which included two Olympic Games and a five-star Grand Prix win, VDL Cartello bowed out of the sport at CHI Geneva last weekend, at the age of 17.

The grey stallion, partnered by Darragh Kenny for the last three years, also spent time under the saddle of both Cormac Hanley and Lorcan Gallager. With Kenny, he was part of the Irish team at the Tokyo Olympic Games and was the alternate in Paris this summer.