December 6, 2024 
There’s a very special new lady heading to American rider Karl Cook’s stable this month after CHI Geneva.
Clarification: another very special lady.
That would be 2024’s indomitable Foxy de La Roque, who, under Luxembourg’s Victor Bettendorf, set a new standard for 9-year-olds this season. Not only did the pair win last month’s LGCT Super Grand Prix—leading after both rounds—they were victorious in five of the six 1.60m+ rounds they jumped this year.
And if you’ve been watching the deer-like, lightning-quick mare with your jaw on the floor, all the while thinking, Hmm, doesn’t she remind me of someone? That question may have just answered itself.
Ah yes, another world-class, Selle Français mare with a similar style and prowess: Cook’s 2024 Paris mount, Caracole de La Roque, who earned the distinction of jumping three, consecutive clear rounds during her Olympic debut, helping Team USA to a silver medal for her trouble.
It’s clear Karl Cook has a type.
Both mares are granddaughters of the famous KWPN stallion, Kannan, on their mothers’ sides. Perhaps the biggest thing they have in common, though? The unique breeding philosophy that produced them.
That would be the famed Haras de La Roque, a Normandy-based operation responsible not just for the shared portion of their show names, but also the kind of careful breeding and “letting-horses-be-horses” mentality that’s resulted in a proven track record of champions. Among them: Pieter Devos’s 17-year-old partner, Toupie de La Roque, who won the 5* FEI World Cup qualifier in Basel St. Jakobshalle in January.
According to the Adeline Hecart, daughter of Haras de La Roque’s Michel Hecart and Alexandrine Bonnet Dian (Adeline is also the partner of Haras De la Roque rider Victor Bettendorf), the family focuses their efforts on three, key components.
They prioritize the dam line, and they look for blood and carefulness in their offspring—even at the expense of other, traditionally prioritized traits such as power and scope.
Those are secondary aspects that can be bred into their foals using the stallion, according to Hecart. The result? A light, modern, and careful sport horse that not only represents the best of French breeding, but intuitively answers the challenges of today’s big, technical, and increasingly delicate courses.
Enter Foxy and Caracole, two of the very best in their class of the 270+ Haras de La Roque-bred horses currently registered in the FEI database. With a fleetness of foot that often leaves the rest of the startlist in the dust, they seem to have an innate understanding of the job at hand: Be brave, jump clear, and do it quickly.
It’s not just conjecture. According to Jumpr App, with four grand prix wins on her record, Foxy de La Roque is the winningest 9-year-old of all time at the 1.60m+ level by a wide margin: no other horse in history has more than one.
Not only that, thanks to her 83% clear rate and top 10 finish percentage, Foxy has more 1.60m+ grand prix wins on her resume—more than any horse of any age this year.
Her next-closest rivals? A virtual hit list of more seasoned superstars: Checker 47, Leone Jei, and United Touch S, each of whom have three wins a piece.
Compare that Caracole de La Roque, three years Foxy’s senior. With 38, 1.60m+ rounds on her resume (more than six times the amount of her cousin Foxy), Caracole still boasts a 55% clear rate, which jumps to 62% for top 10 finishes in 32 starts at that height. She’s also earned more than €1,336,000 in total prize money to date (Jumpr App).
And while Caracole’s 8- and 9-year-old seasons suffered an early hurdle, taking place during the COVID-19 shut down—years she mostly spent in the field—the now-12-year-old mare hasn’t wasted any time making up for it.
She currently sits at #8 on the list of 1.60m+ grand prix wins this year, with two in 2024 and a total of six, 5* victories to date. Three were of these were with former rider Julien Epaillard (FRA), and three are with Cook—among them the CSI5*-W FEI World Cup qualifier in Los Angeles last month.
Whether Cook can repeat the magic with yet another Haras de La Roque phenom is still an open question. But there’s no doubt the world at large is going to love any chance to watch Foxy de La Roque make her case.
