Armitages Boy to Lorenzo De Luca and Stephex Stables

Aymeric De Ponnat and Armitages Boy competing at CHIO Rotterdam 2015.

The popular 13-year-old Oldenburg (Armitage x Feo) Armitages Boy will now be seen with Italy’s Lorenzo De Luca, who will ride the stallion for Stephex Stables in Belgium.

Armitages Boy rose to fame with France’s Aymeric de Ponnat during succesful Nations Cup campaigns at Barcelona in 2013 and La Baule in 2014. Their top results also included a 3rd place in the Grand Prix of Cluny, 4th in the Gucci Masters Grand Prix, 11th at the Herning European Championships, and 4th in the Grand Prix of Dinard.

Ponnat, who partly owns the stallion, was last year faced with the fact that his co-owners wished to sell their shares in Armitages Boy. An auction was held in September 2015, but it was unsuccessful and the stallion stayed with Ponnat. A subsequent crowdfunding campaign was launched by fans of Ponnat and Armitages Boy to try and secure the horse with Ponnat, but that was also unsuccessful.

Armitages Boy now moves on to the world-famous Stephex Stables, where he will be campaigned by De Luca as a sales horse. This week De Luca is wrapping up a highly successful winter circuit in Wellington, Florida, in which he won the Week 10 grand prix and took several other open jumper victories and top placings with a string of Stephex-owned horses. De Luca will soon return to his permanent base at Stephex Stables in Belgium, where he will have the opportunity to get to know his new mount.