Frank Osthold and Mr. Medicott
Two German equestrian websites are reporting the sale of Frank Ostholt’s Olympic and WEG partner Mr. Medicott and that the horse will now be ridden by the USA’s Karen O’Connor. My understanding from a source close to the situation is that a deal has been reached but the transaction is not final as of lunch time today. There have been rumors of a Mr. Medicott sale to a couple of riders for a while and all signs point to Mr. Medicott being the latest high profile Olympic prospect acquisition this year. As someone who cheers for the red, white, and blue, it’s great to see one of Germany’s top horses become one of the USA’s top horses.
The 12 year old Irish Sport Horse gelding is a terrific horse in all three phases and would be instantly one of the most talented horses vying for a spot on the US team for the London Olympics. Mr. Medicott is currently owned by Gerd Hermann Horst and of course competes with Frank Ostholt for Germany. Interestingly, Dirk Schrade, who is one of Germany’s other top riders and a world renown horse finder, has been brokering the deal.
Mr. Medicott has had an excellent advanced career thus far with an 8th place finish at the 2008 Olympics and a team gold medal for Germany. Mr. Medicott finished 3rd at Pau in 2010, 10th at Pau this year, and finished 21st at the WEGs with a stop on the cross-country. In 31 career FEI starts, Mr. Medicott has an impressive 28 completions, 27 clear XC rounds, 16 clean show jumping rounds, and 18 top ten finishes.
German team coach Hanz Melzer is quoted in a buschreiter.de interview as being unhappy about the deal. Apparently, Mr. Medicott’s owner has been considering selling the horse since before the 2010 WEGs. According to horseweb.de Frank will focus on his European Champion bronze medal horse Little Paint for the Olympics. Germany has already lost top horses Charlie Weld and Butts Leon to compete internationally for the US and Thailand respectively in sales earlier this year.
By rule, a horse must be owned for a rider before December 31st of this year in order to compete at the 2012 Olympics. Karen will still have to qualify with Mr. Medicott for the Olympics, but a partnership with a horse like Mr. Medicott would make an incredibly formidable pair going into 2012. Stay tuned for much more.
ESJ reported earlier today that the word around Adelaide is that Phillip Dutton has purchased Mystery Whisper and II Vici. Mystery Whisper is a horse that could easily be at the top of Phillip’s Olympic prospect horses as of today.
Go eventing.
