Uthopia Sold at Auction for £165,000 /€216,864 /US$241,000

Carl Hester and Uthopia at the 2012 Olympic Games. © 2012 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

May 27, 2016

Uthopia, the 2012 Olympic horse ridden by Carl Hester to a team gold medal for Great Britain, was sold at auction Friday for £165,000/€216,864/US$241,000. The buyer was not immediately identified but the bidding went to an individual at the auction site in Northern Ireland.

The auction sparked interest from around the world and Carl as well as others sought to raise enough money to keep the 15-year-old KWPN stallion that has been living at Carl's Gloucestershire farm.

Uthopia was sold with no reserve price by Wilsons Auctions in Mallusk, Northern Ireland as part of a court-ordered sale of assets of Sasha Stewart, who had owned the horse along with Carl.

At the 2011 European Championships, Carol rode Uthopia to team gold with a first place finish in the Grand Prix and also won two individual silver medals. The pair were members of the “80 per cent club” as one of only a handful of combinations to score 80 per cent or better at Grand Prix in the history of the sport.

Carl's legal costs were so high that he relied on friends and supporter to bid for Uthopia that he had kept in full board and training throughout the lengthy bankruptcy proceedings.

Uthopia (Metall x Inspekteur) was found by Carl as a four-year-old and was competed by Carl and Charlotte Dujardin at only 11 different shows in Britain and the Continent in the four years since the 2012 Olympics, including the 2013 European Championships in Herning, Denmark. There, the pair won team bronze.

The last show was at the Amsterdam World Cup event at the end of January this year where Charlotte rode Uthopia to a score of 76.240 per cent in the Grand Prix and 82.375 per cent in the Freestyle.