More than 1000 horses jump tomorrow in the Andalucía Sunshine Tour

Five CSI 4* classes will run alongside the Young Horse Classes

In the 7yr old class, British rider Emily Routledge was the winner of one section with ‘Dia Centa PS’ and Pello Elorduy, from Spain was once again top of the podium with ‘Furiazzo de L’Aubree’.

The Andalucía Sunshine Tour has started off with a very high number of Young Horses taking part in the classes; clearly many are starting off their seasons gently with lovely educational rounds over the well built courses, but a large number are already showing to be extremely competitive.  With around 558 Young Horses taking to the arenas it was a busy day today, but tomorrow, with the start up of the first CSI4* here at Montenmedio; we will almost double the numbers of horses competing to over 1,000.  There are five more classes tomorrow one of note is set at 1.50m and will be the first held this year in the stunning ‘David Broome’, grass main arena (No:3). 

The 7yr old class was held in two sections, 186 horses jumped and from these, 116 had clear rounds.  This was a speed class with a cleverly placed option fence at number 9, which was an open water tray, and allowed for a tighter turn into the last line of the course.  British rider, Emily Routledge with ‘Dia Centa PS’ was the winner of one section, upping her placing with this mare from third yesterday.  Spanish rider  Pello Elorduy Ibarzabal was once again on the top of the podium with ‘Furiazzo de L’Aubree’.

Kevin González de Zárate from Spain, with ‘Kristal’s Beauty B’ and French rider Laura Monier with ‘Evita Peron’, took second places in their sections.  British rider Emily Sage with ‘Cadiz Z’ and Austrian rider Bianca Babanitz with ‘Bella e Impossible’, were both third.

The two sections of the 6yr old classes were so large today, that the actual sections themselves were subdivided into two.  In this way we ended up with four winners, and sets of results, in just these classes. 

In the first section of the 6yr olds, Dutch rider Doron Kuipers, with ‘Hannibal Style VZ K’ and German rider, Kendra Brinkop with ‘Oak Grove’s Hearthrob’ were our two subsection winners.  Irish rider Harold Megahey, with ‘Djoko Z’ and Bulgarian rider Konstantin Van Damme, with ‘Portofino 84’ took second places.  Danish rider Rikke Haastrup, with ‘Early F’ and Swedish rider Jacob Hellström, with ‘Charles’ were both third.

First places in the other section were taken by Spanish rider Javier González Fraga with ‘Cholita’ and the Irish rider, Adam Morgan with ‘Chedington Azzurra’. In second were local Spanish rider, Carlos Bosch with ‘Jolie Van Der Berghoeve’ and British rider, Max Routledge with ‘Ascadina PP Z’. Third places were taken by the Italian Davide Kainich with ‘Starry Night’ and another Irish rider, Adam Morgan with ‘Chedington Tallulah’. In total 219 horses jumped in this section and 126 went clear, adding their result to the sum-total of clears each horse needs in order to qualify for the Finals on the 23rd of February. 

There were 153 horses in the 5yr old class today and 68 jumped clear.  Belgian rider, Dries Dekkers showed off his talent with his horses today, by winning both sections of the class; one with ’D&J Obelix’ and the second with‘D&J Idefix’.  Carlos Bosch was once again on the podium this time in second in his section with ‘Mega Coupe’ whilst Max Routledge was second in the other section with ‘Morona’.  Taking third was the German rider Alina Klatte with ‘Cardentito’, and the Spanish rider Joel Valles Rosell with ‘Stella’.

Tomorrow is the last day of competition for the Young Horses this week who will start up again next Tuesday.  It is also the start of the first CSI 4* with 5 classes throughout the day.  This is the first of the six CSI 4*s that will be held across the course of the Andalucía Sunshine Tour. In these events we will see many of the top international riders and their horses start up their 2022 season.  The grass arenas will be in use tomorrow with what promises to be a very impressive 1.50m class starting off in the main arena which Is named after the legendary David Broome, who was so instrumental and supportive when the Sunshine Tour started up all those years ago.

The event is sponsored by the Consejería de Turismo, Regeneración, Justicia and Administración Local of the Junta de Andalucía (Turismo y Deporte de Andalucía).