‘I lost my best friend’: supreme event horse who rewrote history books dies aged 26

La Biosthetique-Sam FBW, the double Olympic eventing champion and six-time five-star winner, has died at the age of 26.

With his German rider Michael Jung, Sam defined a decade in the sport, rewrote the record books and arguably became the greatest event horse of all time. His death marks the end of an era.

“This evening I lost my best friend, Sam,” said Michael yesterday (16 February). “We reached every milestone side by side, and for years I found daily happiness in seeing you grazing in the field. Thank you for 20 years together. You will be deeply missed by all of us. Rest in peace my friend.”

La Biosthetique-Sam FBW was by the thoroughbred Stan The Man xx, out of a mare by Heraldik xx. Michael told H&H in an interview in 2016 that as a youngster Sam was “a bit normal”.

“Dressage was always difficult and he was spooky, but we learnt together,” said Michael.

In the same interview, Michael reported that Sam was a loner in his personality.

“He really doesn’t like other horses. He likes to be private and alone,” said Michael, adding that the farrier once tried to put on a halter and Sam ran straight out of the stable door.

La Biosthetique-Sam FBW: an extraordinary record

The pair first hit the headlines when they won the four-star (now five-star) at Luhmühlen in 2009 and went on to take European individual bronze that year. It was the last time Sam was ever beaten in a championship.

The following year they took world individual gold in Kentucky and a year later, double European gold in Luhmühlen. In 2012, Michael and Sam won their first individual Olympic title in London, leading the Germans to team gold. Sam’s win made him the first event horse to hold the European, world and Olympic titles simultaneously.

After that, Michael used other horses for his championship campaigns and prioritised five-stars for Sam. The pair won Burghley Horse Trials in 2015 and Badminton Horse Trials in 2016, securing Michael the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing – he is only the second person ever to win this, after Pippa Funnell.

In addition during his five-star career, Sam was second at Badminton twice (2013 and 2017). and third at Luhmühlen (2015) and Kentucky Three-Day Event (2015).

“We salute him on bended knee”

In 2016, Sam was called up from being Michael’s reserve horse to go to the Olympics in Rio, where he became only the third horse in the history of eventing to win two back-to-back Olympic individual titles. The Germans also took team silver.

H&H reported: “Although he was riding his reserve horse after FischerTakinou suffered an infection, 33-year-old Michael started as favourite and there were similarities with his London victory. On both occasions he did not lead the dressage (he was 11th after the first phase in London, fifth here with a test which scored just 0.3 of a penalty different), but won by working his way doggedly through the rankings.

“Both times, he was the only competitor to finish on his dressage score and that says it all – once the dressage is over, Sam very rarely makes a mistake, while others frequently do… He won laughably easily with 7.1 penalties in hand.

“None of the superlatives are good enough for Sam. He has now won four individual eventing gold medals, been the only horse to hold the world, European and Olympic titles simultaneously, won six of the nine four-stars he has contested and helped Michael become a Rolex Grand Slam winner. We salute him on bended knee.”

Until he died, La Biosthetique-Sam FBW spent his retirement at Michael’s yard and was often pictured on Michael’s social media in the field with his three-time Kentucky winner and 2014 world individual silver medallist FischerRocana FST.

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