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Dutch
Dressage News
Gestion
Bonfire Retires (Again) at Indoor Brabant
 Anky
van Grunsven can't get enough of holding Bonfire retirement
parties across Europe. While last year her bay Oldenburg
gelding was officially retired, this year she wants
to retire him again at her home competition Indoor Brabant
in 's Hertogenbosch. The organizer of the show is very
pleased with Anky's idea, as he only has to pay a substantial
fee in exchange for Anky <the crowd magnet> van
Grunsven to present Bonnie one last time.
Last year
Sydney Olympic champion Gestion Bonfire, now 19 years
old, was to formally retire during Indoor Brabant amidst
his thousands of fans. The FMD crisis prevented this
great farewell. "Let's do it a year later," said Olympic
gold Medalist Anky van Grunsven.
"Indoor
Brabant has always been my favorite horse show. It's
where my career started and where I celebrated my first
victories. My fans have always supported me in 's-Hertogenbosch.
After the cancellation of Indoor Brabant in 2001 there
were many other options for his farewell celebration.
I also asked myself if it was a good idea to postpone
his farewell for a year. People may have forgotten about
it a little." Nevertheless, Anky and the show's organizers
have decided to stage Bonfire's official Farewell during
Indoor Brabant 2002, March 23 and 24th.
Show director
Gerrit-Jan Swinkels is enthusiastically looking forward
to the farewell celebration. "You think the attention
for Bonfire is less?" he chuckles, "no way. The demand
for tickets for the celebration after the World Cup
Dressage Final competition on Sunday afternoon has been
enormous. We were afraid we had to let a lot of fans
down. In co-operation with Anky we scheduled an extra
performance for Bonfire on Saturday afternoon, directly
after the World Cup Jumping qualifier, to enable all
Bonfire's fans to say farewell."
With Gestion
Bonfire Anky van Grunsven had a great career with Olympic
gold (2000), World Champion (1994), European Champion
(1999) and five World Cup titles.
Related
Links
Anky van Grunsven
Talking About Bonfire
CDI/CSI-W 's Hertogenbosch
"Indoor Brabant" Cancelled
Image by Arnd
Bronkhorst
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