Elisa Wallace Announces Retirement of Simply Priceless

Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

Elisa Wallace has announced the retirement of her longtime five-star partner, Simply Priceless, at the age of 20. The Australian Thoroughbred gelding completed 17 FEI events with Elisa in the irons during a partnership that first began in 2013. Together, the pair would make their then-CCI4* debut at what was then known as the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, finishing in the top 20 in 2015. They’d return to the following year to finish in the top 10 and would also complete Burghley as the top-placed American and rookie pair in 2016 (14th).

Elisa posted the following reflection on her social media:

This spring has been a bit different for Johnny aka #SimplyPriceless (2001 16.3hd Australian Thoroughbred) He will not be heading to Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event this year, as I have decided to retire him. I love this horse will all my heart. My horse of a lifetime. He made so many dreams come true that seemed to be so unattainable. So many opportunities and so many lessons learned.

He was an underdog and often doubted but Johnny always came through. He took me over the biggest tracks in the world attending FIVE 5⭐️s. With our most notable finishing 8th at Kentucky and 14th at Burghley and we made the Alternate list for the Rio Olympics.

He was the horse that gave me wings. No jump was too big for him, as he made Cottesmore Leap feel like a novice fence, he was a machine. He would fight to get inside the flags for me. Truly an amazing horse.

Johnny’s antics about how stupid dressage was always made me laugh and I learned to not sweat the small stuff. That placings at a regular horse trials really didn’t matter because he only thought championships were worthy. He did humor me with one of our best tests at Burghley.

So many rides of a lifetime with him. I always loved hearing people cheer for him because he deserved it.

A horse that is quirky and demanding of his humans. He’s tough as nails and defies science sometimes and the horse with the biggest heart would never tell me no. He is 20 this year and a wild man as ever. So now it’s my turn to give back to my best friend and give him his best retirement with all the cookies he wants.

A big thank you to his syndicate that has been so supportive of us through the years. Steve Sukup Vicki Larson Sukup, Susan Day, Kal Loveless Larry Loveless, and Rick Wallace.

Please join us in wishing Johnny a happy retirement, where Elisa says he’ll have a field to roam and friends to hang out with for life. Go Eventing.