Press Room

YOUNGEST-EVER OLYMPIC RIDER FEATURED IN SOUTH FLORIDA

MIAMI, (January 30, 2009) – The youngest-ever Olympic equestrian, seventeen-year-old Brazilian Luiza Tavares de Almeida, who rode a Lusitano in the 2008 Olympics, will be featured during the 2009 Lusitano Collection^® Auction on February 19 -20 at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center in West Palm Beach. Her father Manuel Tavares de Almeida is the founder of Coudelaria Rocas de Vouga Lusitanos – one of the partners of The Lusitano Collection^®.  The Collection is the brainchild of Dr. Paulo Pompéia Gavião Gonzaga who founded Interagro Farm in 1975 and oversees the breeding and training of 600 horses on his historic coffee plantation outside São Paulo, Brazil.

Luiza Almeida, visiting Florida for the first time in her life, is competing in dressage during the Winter Equestrian Festival on Samba, the grey Lusitano stallion she rode in the Olympics and rode with the Brazilian team to claim the Bronze Medal at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. During the ESP Wellington Dressage CDI3*, Miss Almeida and Samba earned first place in the FEI Grand Prix freestyle with a score of 65.85%.  Only sixteen when she traveled to China with the Brazilian Team, the teen reported that “the next oldest person was 26.” The attractive adolescent remarked that she couldn’t imagine doing anything other than participating in sports with horses. Her younger twin brothers and older sister all ride though she is the only one competing in the US. Miss Almeida, who trained with Johan Zagers in Europe, attends school when possible, completes her studies and socializes with non-riding friends like any other teenager; however, she thinks the competitive equestrian lifestyle “is wonderful.”

During The 2009 Lusitano Collection^® Auction on February 19, the Olympic pair will lead the Showcase Parade of Horses, 32 four-and five-year old Lusitanos trained in classical dressage, into a hacienda-like atmosphere complete with hanging chandeliers,  water fountains and lush tropical trees. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of tickets from the auction will benefit the American Cancer Society and the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center. For more information about The 2009 Lusitano Collection^® Auction which is open to the public for a fee, go to www.lusitanocollection.com or call (866) 540-8809.