Rumors about the sale of eventing world champion La Biosthetique Sam continue to swirl and the latest reports suggest that the horse will be bought for a British team rider. In a Horse and Hound article from Friday, Michael Jung’s brother Phillip is quoted as saying “it looks like Sam will get sold to a sponsor of the British team for 2 million pounds.” Michael Jung’s family owns 40% of Sam and Sabine Kreuter owns the other 60%. Phillip Jung explained that the family has a contract with Ms. Kreuter to allow the Jungs to make the decisions regarding Sam’s training which expires at the end of the year, and Kreuter now seems inclined to sell the horse to the highest bidder. Anyone who has followed high profile public negotiations knows that any public statements by any involved parties should be taken with a grain of salt.
Of course the Jungs would like to keep the ownership in Germany, which would likely allow Michael to keep the ride and Phillip said that the Jung family was willing to buy the horse for 1 million pounds. Which British rider would get the ride is even more up in the air than whether the sale will happen, but names like Mary King, Nicola Wilson, Piggy French, Zara Phillips, Oliver Townend have been thrown around. In my mind, Zara is the one who stands out from that list as desperately needing a top 4* horse because Toytown has proven very tough to replace. Obviously, with the 2012 games approaching, British owners will be especially excited about buying a horse that can win the gold at home in two years. Go eventing.
