Very sadly, Cheppetta (Chepetto x Cash) – who in 2022 won the CSI5* Hermès Grand Prix in Paris with Kevin Staut in the saddle – has passed away at the age of 16, her owner Virginie Couperie Eiffel has announced in social media.

"She had something human when she listened to you... I loved whispering in her ear that she was a great champion, yesterday I said goodbye to her," Couperie-Eiffel wrote. 

"How lucky to have shared moments with you great champion, you left far too soon. Thank you for all the happiness you brought to your different riders and those around you. A new star watches over," Laura Rayjasse – the last rider of the mare – added.

Prior to Staut, Cheppetta was successful with Celine Schoonbroodt-De Azevedo in the saddle, as well as with Martin Fuchs. In 2023, after a great career in the top sport, Cheppetta returned to Couperie Eiffel’s Chateau Bacon near Bordeaux and Laura Rayjasse competed with her on lower levels. 

“I bought Cheppetta at Felipe and Celine De Azevedo’s stables,” Couperie Eiffel told World of Showjumping in 2023, when the mare stepped down from top sport. “She had arrived there from America, where she had been sold as an 8-year-old after having jumped during the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona with Martin Fuchs. However, when the woman who had bought her stopped riding, Cheppetta was sent to Azevedo to be sold. When I was there to look at horses, and I saw her, it was love at first sight! We bought her together with Azevedo, and Celine got the ride on her. Directly, they were placed at the Longines Masters in Paris in the two-star Grand Prix. Cheppetta had a great career with Celine, the highlight being placed second in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Paris in 2019. It was so special; she got the wild card to compete at the show, and to see my own mare place second at my show Paris Eiffel Jumping was a fabulous memory and a fantastic result.” 

At World of Showjumping, our thoughts are with Couperie-Eiffel and all those close to Cheppetta.