French Olympian Morgan Barbançon has officially returned to competition after an 18-month suspension kept her sidelined from showing.
18-Month Suspension
The 33-year old Barbançon was a strong contender for the French Olympic team in 2024 with Habana Libre A, but got stopped in her tracks abruptly in May of that year. She got provisionally suspended after failing to declare her whereabouts for personal doping testing. Barbancon appealed the case with CAS, but they even increased the suspension time from 3 to 18 months.
In her suspension time, Barbancon sold her number one in the barn, Habana Libre A, and focused on training horses and students, including Turkish Grand Prix trailblazer Rotem Ibrahimzadeh. One of her rising Grand Prix horses, Jens (by Chareur x Sandro Hit), was briefly shown by Morgan's trainer, Brit Gareth Hughes.
Morgan's suspension ended on 10 October 2025.
Come Back
Based with her training business in Grobbendonk, Belgium, Morgan has made her come back to competition on 19 October 2025. She competed three (!!) horses at Grand Prix level at national level CDN Dentergem in Belgium.
Her 19-year old evergreen Sir Donnerhall II (by Sandro Hit x Donnerhall) scored a winning 70.544% while her two younger Grand Prix horses were shown "hors concours" so no score was made public. She rode 8-year old KWPN bred Magic Mike (by Spielberg x Patijn x Plain's Liberator) and the 11-year old KWPN bred Jaguar (by Louisville x Ferro). Magic Mike is originally named "Milan van Altrido", while Jaguar was first trained and competed by Dutch Veronique van der Panne.
Photo © Astrid Appels
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