Two riders, eight championships and 28 international wins: fischerChipmunk FRH retires as World No. 1

Only three horses in the history of eventing have held the Olympic and world titles at the same time. Michael Jung rode two of them. The second, fischerChipmunk FRH, was retired from competition on Monday at the age of 18, three months after winning the world title in Aachen.

Jung said the horse is fit and healthy, and that “Chip” will stay with him for his retirement. Chip started his international career as a six-year-old in 2014. Twelve years later, he leaves the sport as the highest-rated event horse in the world, with more four- and five-star wins than any other horse during those years (2014–2026).

His story runs through two riders, eight championships and a long rivalry with London 52. Here is the career in numbers.

Bred to event

fischerChipmunk is a Hanoverian gelding foaled in 2008, by Contendro I out of Havanna, by the thoroughbred Heraldik xx. His breeder, Dr. Hilmer Meyer-Kulenkampff, traces the dam line back to a Trakehner mare in 1906, which makes Chip the eighth generation of that family.

Julia Krajewski produced him from the age of four. They won the Bundeschampionat for five-year-olds in 2013 and made their international debut a year later. At Le Lion d’Angers in 2015 a mistake at the water left them 29th, but by 2016 Chipmunk had won his first CCI4*, the Strzegom CCI4*-L. He was just eight years old.

The partnership peaked in 2018. Krajewski & Chipmunk won Bramham CCI4*-L by finishing on their 19.4 dressage score. They then went on to win CHIO Aachen CCI4*-S that same year, topping the third-strongest CHIO Aachen field on record. At the World Equestrian Games in Tryon that September they led the dressage on 19.9, 3.4 penalties clear of Ingrid Klimke and SAP Hale Bob OLD. Cross-country brought 20 penalties and they finished 39th.

WEG 2018 would be their last run together. Chipmunk’s owner did not renew Krajewski’s contract, and a group made up of the DOKR, Prof. Klaus Fischer and the breeder bought the horse to keep him in Germany. The ride went to Jung, and the change was confirmed in February 2019. Krajewski called it “a very sad day” after six years with Chipmunk.

Two riders, one horse

Krajewski built the horse and Jung made him a champion. The numbers show how much the horse improved in his second career. His average dressage score dropped by more than three penalties, and his win rate went from one in three to closer to one in two.

International career. One of the 43 dressage leads was shared (2019 Baborowko CCI4*-L).

At four- and five-star level alone, Chip had 31 outright dressage leads (not counting the one shared lead), the most of any horse since 2014. London 52 is next on 18.

The championship record

Chip went to eight senior championships. At six of them he led the dressage, but he won none of those six. At the other two he started behind, but went on to win both.

Individual results only.

Two of those near misses came down to the final phase. At the 2019 Euros he led after cross-country and a single rail handed the European title to SAP Hale Bob OLD. At the 2022 world championships he again led into the show jumping and had two fences down. One rail would still have won him the world title, but he ended up placing fifth.

The 2025 Euros was decided by the clock. Chip led the dressage by 2.3 penalties, picked up 10 time penalties across country, and London 52 won by 1.3. Germany did take team gold that week.

The big titles came when Chip and Jung had to chase.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Chipmunk (17.8) was second after dressage behind London 52 (17.5). Chip won.

At the 2026 world championships, Chip and Jung (23.0) were third after dressage, behind London 52 (22.8) and Nickel 21 (22.0). Chip won.

The rivalry with London 52

Chip and Laura Collett’s London 52 were foaled about a year apart, and they met nine times between 2019 and 2026. Chip finished ahead seven times, including at all four of their five-star meetings.

Amber rows: meetings where London 52 finished ahead.

Chip had the better dressage score at seven of their nine meetings. London 52 beat him on the flat only twice, at Paris 2024 and Aachen 2026. Those were the two biggest titles on offer, and Chip won both.

The best horse of his generation

Ballaghmor Class matches Chipmunk’s four wins at the five-star level and Ballaghmor Class has more five-star podiums. On every other measure, Chip is clear of the horses born within a year of him.

Since 2014, no horse has more four- and five-star wins than Chipmunk. London 52 is second on 15, and Virgil third on 14.

World No. 1

Chip has been the highest-rated horse in the world at every six-month checkpoint since the middle of 2021. He retires on 952, his career high, set at this summer’s world championships. Only one horse has ever rated higher: Chipmunk’s stablemate La Biosthetique Sam, who peaked at 973 in 2017.

The two best horses on the all-time list belong to the same rider.

Kentucky

Besides Olympic and World gold, Chip’s other five-star wins came at Kentucky. In 2022 he led from start to finish and ended on his dressage score of 20.1. That 20.1 remains the best five-star finishing score on record (2008–2026). In 2025 Chip and Jung's 18.6 was the lowest dressage score in the event's history. They went on to win on a 25.0. The second victory made Jung the first rider to win Kentucky five times.

Olympic and world champion at the same time

The Aachen 2026 win put Chip on a short list. Only two other horses in eventing history have held the individual Olympic and world titles at the same time.

“After careful consideration, I have decided to retire fischerChipmunk from competition.”

Krajewski took him from five-year-old champion to four-star winner. Jung turned that talent into 15 four- and five-star wins over 8 seasons, two individual golds and five years as the world’s top-rated horse.