Portuguese Olympic Team Horse Fogoso Passed Away

Dressage

Portugal

Fogoso, a team horse for Portugal and Brazil at the 2021 Olympics and 2023 Pan American Games, has passed away. He was 16 years old.

Fogoso was a purebred Lusitano stallion by Rico out of Amelia (by Raja). He was bred at Rodrigo Torres' family stud farm, Coudelaria Torres Vaz Freire. Torres is a great-grandson of Domingos Sousa Coutinho, a medalist at the 1936 Olympic Games.

Rodrigo Torres

Rodrigo trained and competed Fogoso from novice level to Grand Prix.

The pair rose to fame in 2019 by winning the Portuguese Grand Prix Championships and assisting in Portugal's Nations Cup victory at the CDIO Hickstead.

A half share in Fogoso sold to the investment company Horse Campline. Rodrigo and the stallion represented Portugal at the 2019 European Dressage Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where they were the second best scoring Portuguese pair. At the 2021 Olympic Games they exceeded all expectations and made it into the Kur to Music finals, placing 16th, the best result a Lusitano has ever achieved at the Olympics with a freestyle score of 78.943%.

In 2022 they were 14th at the World Cup Finals and 13th in the CDIO Aachen Kur to Music, but opted not to go to the 2022 World Championships in Herning to spare the horse with the Paris Olympics as long-term goal.

Brazilian Team Horse

A change in course, however, followed after the summer of 2022. The team of Horse Campline purchased full ownership of the stallion and announced at the start of 2023 that the ride on Fogoso was passed on to Brazilian Renderson Oliveira. They set the 2023 Pan American Games and 2024 Paris Olympics as target.

Oliveira relocated to Portugal to train the horse and debuted him at the CDI Cascais in February 2023. He went to the CDI's in Beloura, Alter do Chao, Lezirias, Deauville and Hagen to clinch his Brazilian team nomination for the Pan Ams in Santiago, Chile, where they won team silver and placed fifth in the freestyle.

A long break from international showing followed and the Olympic dream was dashed. The horse returned to the CDI ring in September 2024 at the CDI Esposende, followed by Madrid and then Neumunster in February 2025 which turned out to be the stallion's last international.

Untimely Passing

Owner Campline announced on 15 August that Fogoso has passed away.

"It is with great sadness and a deep sense of loss that we announce that Fogoso (..) has passed away following a prolonged systemic illness," the owner stated. "More than just a competition horse, Fogoso became a symbol of excellence, of recognized genetic quality, and of the Lusitano’s ability to compete at the highest international level."