Equestrian showjumper Athina Onassis euthanized her white mare Camilla Z after a show jumping accident at the annual show in Swuterland, leaving the heiress heartbroken. Usually reserved and cautious in her public appearances, the 29-year-old heiress to the fortune amassed by her Croesus grandfather Aristotle Onassis couldn’t help but show emotion upon seeing her 11-year-old horse and companion in competitions since April, 2013.
The one thing that is certain is that Camille wasn’t the only winning mare in the stables of the heiress that focuses more on her equestrian career rather than maintaining her wealth and fame.
Both Ms. Onassis and her Brazilian husband Alvaro Affonso de Miranda Neto, known as “Doda” to his friends, are avid horse enthusiasts who spend 3.4 million dollars merely for the care of their horses at the Villa de Miranda.
Over the last ten years, the young heiress has systematically earned a name for herself in equestrianism and there is even a horse riding show in the Global Champions Tour at Rio de Janeiro known as the Athina Onassis Horse Show, an event attended by the cream of equestrian champions.
Ms. Onassis has invested a large portion of her Greek inheritance on Brazilian equestrian installations helping Doda materialize his business vision with the creation of AD, founded by Alvaros’ father. AD currently has 13 champion steeds, mares and stallions, ready to breed an army of winners.
In 2011, prior to the London Olympics, Ms. Onassis was involved in one of the most costly horse trading exchanges ever. She spent 4.8 million dollars to buy Ashleigh Drossel Dan, a horse with which the Australian equestrian team had won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. This isn’t the first time that the heiress has dug deep in her pockets for a horse. Prior to this she bought Enter Picolien for 2.5 million dollars. The cost of Camille Z, a horse of admirable quality and strength, was near that amount as well.
It is said that her sale of her grandfather’s island, Scorpios, has been turned to stables. No sooner did she sell the island for around 120 million dollars, quashing her grandfather’s dreams of turning the island into a paradise on earth, that she followed her own dreams and bought one of the most organized modern stables – the 23-acred Grand Prix Village at Wellington, USA. At an estimated cost of 3.8 million dollars, Ms. Onassis did not hesitate to splurge 12 million dollars for the chance of becoming its owner.
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