Gaspard Maksud

The French rookie burst onto the championship scene in Pratoni, and now looks set to spearhead the home team in the build-up to Paris 2024. Martha Terry meets Gaspard Maksud and his beloved mare, Zaragoza

- Martha Terry

I LOVE mares,” says French event rider Gaspard Maksud. “I just get on with them. I’d rather ride a mare than a gelding.”

And with good reason – he rides one of the best in the world. The 29-year-old made a scintillating championship debut in Pratoni, finishing sixth on Zaragoza, owned by Jane Young and Martin Thurlow. The pair were just over a penalty adrift of the silver medal and topped off their season with the EquiRatings Horse of the Year title.

“I think mares take the pressure better than a gelding, as long as you stay fair,” he says. “In France, they don’t mind mares, but they say chestnuts are fragile. Everyone has their own opinion. I find when you build a relationship with a mare, they’ll always give you more, they have a bigger heart.”

And none bigger than Zaragoza (Zoe), the joint-youngest horse in Pratoni at nine years old. She added nothing to her dressage score, being quick and clever cross-country, and showjumping clear over Uliano Vezzani’s exacting track.

At Gaspard’s 15-box yard, at the foot of Holmbury Hill, round the corner from the Funnells in Surrey, Zoe occupies the stable nearest the tack room – she loves attention. Gaspard is drinking milky tea like a born-and-bred Brit, and eating a croissant. Zoe has just come back into work after a three-month holiday. Still in her winter woollies, she looks like a furry pony, a little different to the sleek athlete that flashed across our screens last year. She’s chewing holes in a large French flag draped beside her stable.