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Courtney King will take over the reins of the PRE dressage stallion Grandioso III for competition in the US.
Grandioso III (Adelante x Grandiosa) is a 16-hand, nine-year-old, bay PRE ((Pura Raza Espanola) stallion imported from Spain by Hampton Green Farm in 2003. Grandioso has been competed by Pati Pierucci through to Prix St. Georges. Robert Dover is Pierucci's coach. The rider change was announced by Hampton Green Farm's Kim Boyer, who said Pierucci has elected to live full time in Wellington and is not able to travel with Grandioso. "It was a tough decision for Pati, but it's what she wants to do," Boyer said. "That predicated the idea that someone else would be interested in riding the horse who could travel with him and take him where he needed to go. The initial contact was made with Lendon Gray, who saw the horse and previewed him for Courtney and then recommended him to Courtney." At the end of March, Grandioso III will travel to King's base at Gleneden Dressage in Bedford, New York, with her other mounts that are currently in Florida for the winter. King will compete at the 2008 World Cup Dressage Final in s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, with Idocus on March 27-30, and then travel with a group of her horses to California to prepare for the USEF national championships and the Olympic Games Selection Trials. To stay in training, Grandioso will be among the California-bound horses. Boyer said Grandioso III is still green at the Prix St. Georges in the show ring, but has been schooling Grand Prix movements. "His show schedule is now up to Courtney. She's very serious about the relationship-building part," Boyer said, adding that it may be late 2008 or early 2009 before King and Grandioso III make their show ring debut. "Our business model is that our breeding stallions have to actively be competing, and they are," Boyer said. Hampton Green Farm's breeding operation in Michigan is home to 40 head of breeding stock and young horses. One of the stud's stallions, Idolo Americano, was the top US bred stallion at Devon last year. Idolo Americano (Idilio II x Escapada III), whose Spanish name translates to "American Idol," won Devon's 2007 Born in the USA Breeders Award in the Stallion Division as a four-year-old. Boyer is enthusiastic about Grandioso III's show ring future with King and the impact it could have on the Pure Spanish Horses. "If Courtney competes in Hong Kong, then it will be the first time that a standing member of the US Equestrian Team has selected a PRE to be a horse for them to compete. It's a good thing for the breed overall. I am doing what I do because I believe this breed to be very competitive in America. Pati and I have been working very hard to get that message out. It will be nice to have Courtney doing a little of our work for us now. It will be an interesting combination." Check out the latest Sport and Breeding articles from SporthorseBreeder
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