From Le Lion to Badminton: The Path of Champions

07May

As the legendary Badminton Horse Trials begin, the Mondial du Lion Crédit Mutuel has its eyes turned toward England. What a pleasure it is to see so many familiar faces among the entries! For these superstars, the path to the highest world level (5*) led right through our tracks at Isle Briand.

🌟 They made their debut at the Mondial:

  • Lordships Graffalo (“Walter”): 8th in the 7-year-olds in 2019 (ridden by Tom McEwen), he has since become a true legend with Rosalind Canter, racking up victories at Badminton (2023, 2025) and Burghley!

  • Greenacres Special Cavalier: A loyal competitor at Le Lion in 2019 and 2020 (17th), she proved the importance of this training ground by winning Badminton in 2024 with Caroline Powell.

  • Hooney d’Arville: 6th as a 6-year-old in 2019, she has since shone at Luhmühlen. For her rider Lara de Liedekerke-Meier, the Mondial is “an essential objective for training future champions.”

  • Chilli Knight: 7th in the 7-year-olds in 2017, another proven talent continuing his ascent with Gemma Stevens.

We will also be emotionally following the performances of Cavalier Crystal (Harry Meade), Filao de Perle (Benjamin Massié), and Annaghmore Valoner (Sam Griffiths), all of whom graduated from our young horse classes!

We had hoped to see the talented Cooley Rosalent again—who finished 2nd at the Mondial as a 6-year-old and 7th as a 7-year-old—as well as Grafennacht, who narrowly missed the podium at Le Lion in 2019. Unfortunately withdrawn this year, we hope to see them back in competition very soon.

The Mondial du Lion Crédit Mutuel wishes “Good Luck” to all these pairs! May their talent and the training they received in Anjou carry them through to the very last jump!