New rider for Richard Vogels and Christian Kukuk's Cepano Baloubet

The French rider Jeanne Sadran will be the new rider of the Chaman son Cepano Baloubet. This was reported by Ecurie Chevel on Instagram:

“Welcome, Cepano Baloubet. He will be part of Jeanne’s team. A big thank you to Enda (horse dealer Enda Carroll, editor’s note) and Ashford Farm for this lovely meeting and to Veronica Tracy and Christian Kukuk for working with him.”

This gives the 24-year-old from Toulouse another star alongside her trusted Dexter de Kerglenn, who accompanied her to both the 2024 World Cup final in Riyadh and the 2025 European Championships in La Coruña.

Black, Bird, Kukuk

Cepano Baloubet is a twelve-year-old DSP gelding bred by Wolfgang Seemann. The chestnut had his greatest successes under Richard Vogel. He took him over from Tobias Schwarz in 2021, who accompanied Cepano Baloubet from his first novice (A*) level show jumping test.

When Cepano Baloubet joined the Vogel/Will Equestrian team, Sophie Hinners also rode him at the beginning. He won 1.50 meter show jumping competitions with her at the age of eight. Richard Vogel then took over the reins of the gelding as a nine-year-old. He presented him at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida, where Cepano Baloubet won his first five-star Grand Prix. The pair were also victorious in Rome and came second in the Prize of NRW at the CHIO Aachen in the same year, only to win the “small Grand Prix” of the CHIO on Saturday shortly afterwards.

This continued in 2024. There was hardly a tournament at which the pair did not lead a lap of honor at least once or at least finish in the top three. In the summer, they won the Prize of Europe at the CHIO Aachen, one of the highlights of the tournament.

Then the owner, Veronica Tracy, who had previously trained with Richard Vogel, gave the gelding to her partner, Olympic champion Christian Kukuk. Kukuk was not quite able to match Vogel’s success with the horse, but they were part of the second-placed Nations Cup team in Brussels, won a Global Champions League show jumping competition in Rabat and most recently came seventh in a 1.55 meter competition in Geneva.

Kukuk repositions itself

Cepano Baloubet is not the only horse that is leaving or has already left Christian Kukuk’s stable. The eleven-year-old OS stallion Chageorge by Chacco-Blue is now also jumping under the French flag. His new rider is Lara Tryba, who is also associated with Ashford Farm. The 27-year-old competed for France at the European Championships as a junior, but now also rides CSI5* tournaments.

Christian Kukuk went into business for himself on January 1, 2026. The 2024 Olympic champion left Ludger Beerbaum’s stable to set up his own business.