Another Blazing victory for Eiken Sato with ‘Daloa du Banco’ in the Sergio Grasso GP

This Japanese rider topped the podium in a demanding and fast 18 horse jump off

Eiken Sato, who won the Celeste Trophy with ‘Melypso Blue PS FRH’ on the 14th of March, is having an excellent week .  He had another brilliant win today in the 1.45m, Sergio Grasso Small GP;  riding ‘Daloa du Banco’, the talented 11yr old dark bay mare.  This mare was until recently, with French rider, Adelaide Lautie and has just started up her 4* career, here with Eiken this February.  She is by ‘Mozart des Hayettes’, dam sire ‘Dollar Dela Pierre’.

This top Japanese rider decided very early on in his career, that he wanted to pursue horse sports over studying at college and relocated to Belgium at the age of 18, joining Stephex Stables, with brief visits back to Japan to be with family.  Since then he has  focussed on becoming a top showjumper and has already represented Japan at two Olympic Games and two World Equestrian Games. 

Today the pair showed off their new partnership in both of the rounds. There were 88 competitors in the first round just 18 went through to the jump off, and it was there,  foot perfect, that  Eiken stopped the clock in 40.24s to won the class. 

British Holly Smith had been leading up to that point with the amazing ‘Fruselli’ (‘Zambesi TN’ x ‘Karandasj’) and how great it is to see him up on the podium here once again.  Third was the Norwegian rider, Therese Soehol Henriksen with ‘Iron Maiden’ and fourth was Spanish, Alberto Márquez Galobardes with ‘Aldo du Manoir’.  In fifth was Irish Jessica Burke with ‘African Affair’.

The riders received their trophies from Monica Grasso, who is the owner of Sergio Grasso, our sponsors today.  This company is specialised in the design and making of artesanal, riding boots from beautiful Italian leather of the very best quality.  Today’s winner will also receive a wonderful pair of custom made boots as a part of their prize.

The Big Tour 1.35 was another hotly contested class today and our winner was Canadian, Kara Chad with ‘Play It Loud Z’.  In second and third were British riders, Jude Burgess with ‘Undun’ and Ellen Whitaker with ‘Conshira Blue PS’.  Fourth was German rider, Enno Klaphake with ‘Chacvarlon PS’ and fifth was Argentinian, Martin Dopazo with ‘Lenfissich’.

French Marie Demonte, had yet another win to add to her successes here, this time in the Medium Tour 1.50 with the nine year old, ’Forban De Beliard’, who is by ‘Diamant de Semilly’ x ‘Scea De Beliard’.  Second was another rider who is rarely off of the podium, Dutch,  Sanne Thijssen with ‘Jelte DD’.  Third was Colombian,  Marco Antonio Peixoto Ferreira with ‘Collete’;  fourth, German, Laura Hetzel with ‘Oak Grove’s Darshana’ and fifth, Polish, Jacek Polikowski with ‘Lector’.

Matt Sampson took both first and third place in the Medium Tour 1.40, with ‘Genere R’ (‘Eldorado VD Zeshoek’ x ‘Berlin’) and then, ‘King Lepantino’.  His British compatriot, Chloe Winchester just managed to squeeze in between, for second place with ‘Korlenski;  whilst two Spanish riders, took the last two places;  Cristóbal San Juan Yague with ‘Hera’ and  Lucía Fernández Hidalgo with ‘London’s Bella’.

Chloe Winchester won the Medium Tour 1.30,  with ‘Ladoselli W.’;  second was Spanish, Sofía Moreno Rodríguez-Yrizabal with ‘Brigitte’;  third, Australian, James Arkins with ‘Quint Horta’;  fourth, Portuguese, Mario Prieto with ‘Money Maker’ and fifth, Irish, Jonathan Smyth with ‘MB Sandro Star’.

The Small Tour results:  In the 1.45,  British, Emma Stoker with ‘Q Seven’ was our winner with; Irish Sean Monaghan in second with ‘Cornet Clover Girl’;  British, Charlie Atkinson was third, with ‘Ballingowan Leia’;  Swedish, Antonia Andersson was fourth with  ‘Dyneine de Lilau’ and British, Rebecca Marsh with ‘Stevie G’was fifth.

British, Ben Walker won both the Small Tour 1.35 with ‘Melvin VD Bisschop’ and the 1.30 with ‘Heidiemorka’.

The rest of the 1.35 results were:  Louis Rafael Saint Cyr with ‘Sancho 492’ for France;  Rogier Linssen with ‘Gabriela J’ for the Netherlands and two Spanish riders took the last two places,  Alejandro Fernández with ‘Caramel Blue PS’ and  Xabier Zabaleta with ‘Arloy de Beausejour’.

The rest of the 1.30 results were:  Spanish riders in second and third, Olivia Álvarez with ‘Quinoa de Sauco’ and  Elsa González with ‘Inch Allah DB’.  Fourth was American, Molly Hay with ‘Quick Ginger Della Caccia’ and fifth was Mexican, Ángela González Muñoz with ‘Jay Jay ES’.

Winners of the CSI1*:  Spanish, Fernando de los Santos with ‘Ibsa Caps’the 1.30;  British rider, Rebecca Middleton with ‘Okehurst MR Smooth’ and Spanish rider, Iraia Sainz Martínez with ‘Chipie Dip Z’ had a joint win in the 1.20, as the class had over 100 entries.  Finally the 1.10, was won by another Spanish rider,  Silvia Zango García with ‘Chillout Z’.

The 30th Andalucía Sunshine Tour, is sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of Andalucía.

Tomorrow we top off the week here with thirteen classes including the Grand Prix sponsored by the Diputación de Cádiz, which is a 2024, Paris Olympic Qualifier.

Access to the installations is free, as is parking in designated areas. If you cannot attend, live action can be seen streamed via the web page www.sunshinetour.net, the Sunshine Tour App or online on Clip My Horse. Full results can be seen on our website and the App.