Pepel was the world's leading dressage horse in the early 70s. His biggest success was the individual Gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich with Russian rider Nina Menkowa. Pepel later retired as a breeding stallion, equally successful here as he had been in the dressage ring. His last living son is the black Sapros, a stallion at Germany's famous Vogelsangshof. Sapros himself was an international show jumper before he came to Germany as a breeding stallion.