Michael Hughes, from the USA rode a foot perfect jump off round today in the beautiful grass Hickstead arena, in the Small Grand Prix class, sponsored by Geolastic. He was riding the lovely grey gelding ‘Eclatant’, who is 14 years old and by ‘Berlin’ x ‘Heartbreaker’ and owned by the Stephex Stables. His round was neat and balanced and their time was 40.37 seconds, taking the top spot in this hotly contested 1.45m class.
Just 0.01 of a second slower was the German rider, Jana Wargers who stopped the clock in 40.38 seconds. She rode an equally elegant round with ‘Clash Royal’. This lovely bay gelding is by ‘Clarimo’ x ‘Wellenspiel’ and is owned by Ashford Farm – Steve Macken.
Norwegian rider, Victoria Gulliksen rode the stallion, ‘Thuur Z’ (‘Tyson’ x ‘Flipper D’Elle*HN*) into third place, taking one more stride to the last fence than the other two riders. ‘Thuur Z’ is owned by de Stal Linssen and Joost Thijssen. In fourth place was Gaj Riossa (SLO) with ‘Entertainer’ (‘Warrant’ x ‘Corland’) and in fifth was Francesco Turturiello (ITA) with ‘Quite Balou’ (‘Quite Capito’ x ‘Baloubet de Rouet’).
Prizes were given out by the director of Geolastic, Guillermo González Eguinoa, who founded Geolastic in 2014. The company specialises in the construction of competition arenas of the highest quality and has a long association with the Andalucía Sunshine Tour, where they have put in various arenas and where they are in charge of maintenance throughout the year and during the tour itself.
In the 1.35 Big Tour class we had a Dutch top two on the podium. Doron Kuipers with ‘Just a Moment Van T Heerenhuys’ (‘E Star’ x ‘Indoctro’) followed by Sanne Thijssen with ‘Mascotte of the Paddocks’. In third was the Moroccan rider, Mohamed Al Ahrach with ‘Coco Rocha’. Michael Hughes also had a great result in this class, taking fourth place with ‘Phantomas PS’ and Irish, Harry Allen was fifth with ‘Carrera Denfer’.
The Medium Tour 1.50 class was won by world number 2, Martin Fuchs (SUI). This was an impressive track and he made it look very smooth with the super jumper, ‘Che Tipa’ (‘Casero della Caccia’ x ‘Ogano Sitte’). In second place was Sanne Thijssen who added another good result to her tally, with ‘Chuck 50’. In third was Irish rider, Alexander Butler with ‘Pico’.
The 1.40 was won by Kevin González de Zárate (ESP) who has had a brilliant set of results this week, with ‘Kilimanjaro Van Overis Z’. Once again Kevin won the 8 year old class, with the talented, ’Kristal’s Beauty B’in an exciting jump off with 18 competitors. In the 1.40, British rider, Daisy Mckinlay was second with ‘Darjeeling Desir’ and another Spanish rider, Sira Martínes Cullell, was third with ‘Devise du Salbey’.
There was a Hungarian win in the 1.30 class for Aliz Alasztics with ‘Ariosa’. Dries Dekkers, Belgium, was third with ‘Pepijn Van Het Lindehof’ and Jane Annett, (GBR) was fourth with ‘Jamaica EBH’.
The Small Tour 1.45, had a British winner, Skye Higgin with ‘Gotcha’ and Nicole Lockhead Anderson (GBR) with ‘Emerald Irish Cruise’ was the winner of the 1.35. The 1.30 was won by the Danish rider, Palma Sophie Gry Jansson-Christensen with ‘Lyndon’. Congratulations to all of today’s winners. Full results can be seen on the App or our web page.
The XXIX Andalucía Sunshine Tour, is kindly sponsored by the ‘Consejería de Turismo, Cultura y Deporte’ and co-financed by the European Union. Tomorrow jumping continues with four Grand Prix classes, including this week’s Big Tour GP, sponsored by Horseware. This is a qualifier for both the Europeans this year and the 2024 Olympics.
11/02/2023 by Sunshinetour News , Press releases
SunshineTour, 02/11/2024