Penelope Leprevost with ‘‘Djagger Semilly’’ are top of the podium today in the Barceló BT 1.50

‘Jolie van der Berghoeve’ ridden by Carlos Bosch Cebrian, wins the Aloga Auctions, eight year old final

The Barceló BT was our biggest class today set at 1.50 in the main, David Broome arena. This speed class had 94 entries and competition was hot from the very start of the class.  In the end our winner was Penelope  Leprevost, top French rider with her super 11yr old, bay stallion,  ‘Djagger Semilly’ (‘Diamant de Semilly’ x Apache d’Adriers’), they stopped the clock in 58.20s. In second was Spanish rider, Mariano Martinez Bastida with ‘Quark de Preuilly Z’ and in third was Giles Thomas from Belgium with ‘Constantin 110’.  Fourth was Moroccan rider, El Ghali Boukaa with ‘Ugolino du Clos’ and in fifth was French, Alix Ragot with ‘Diaz de Ush’.

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The 1.45, Aloga,  8yr old Final was held in the grass Hickstead area.  There was a relatively small field of 24 horses in the first round and just four went through to the jump off, over the course built by Rafael Suarez. The winner was third to jump and a clear round would have put them into the lead, however ‘Jolie van der Berghoeve’ just clipped the first jump and then her Spanish rider, Carlos Bosch Cebrian knew he had to ride for a fast four faults.  They really stepped up and stopped the clock in just 37.48s to go into the lead.  ‘Jolie van der Berghoeve’  has excellent breeding and is by ‘Jaguar VD Berghoeve’ from a mare by the legendary stallion, ‘Kannan’.  This mare has already won this class three times over the pre and actual Andalucia Tour and indeed was our winner yesterday.

Carlos told us.  “The Young Horse Finals are always hard, ….. today there were I think, 24 horses qualified, but the course was big enough. There were just four clear rounds (in the first round), I had the first one down (in the jump off) but was the quickest.”   He told us that the mare will now go home and just be kept ticking over, but not competing for a while until after March.

In second place was the first to go in the jump off, the mare, ’Gotcha de Baerenrain’,  by ‘Vagabond de la Pomme’ x ‘Fetiche du Pas’.  Ridden by, Alix Ragot, who had a very successful day today, and  jumped a great round with just the last fence down, in 37.64s.  In third was another elegant mare, ‘Que Passa de Regor’ (‘Hunters’ Scendro’ x ‘Darco’) ridden by Belgian, Andres Vereecke.  They were last to go and looking for a clear round to win the class, they jumped almost perfectly but took the very last fence down stopping the clock in 45.88s.  In fourth was the lovely grey Holsteiner mare, ‘Chiara VDH’ (‘Chacco Blue’ x ‘Mr Blue’) ridden by Sanne Thijssen for the Netherlands who finished on a very unlucky 8 faults, and finally, in fifth;  was another Dutch combination, the stallion, ‘Lamaze TN’  (‘Grandorado TN’ x ‘Carthago Z’) ridden by Kars Bonhof, and who had just three time penalties in the first round. 

Our sponsors for this class, Aloga Auctions, were the brainchild of Bertram and Harry Allen and their friend Max nLill, back in 2021. They are now run by a top team of international show jumpers and dressage riders and Laurens Meynaerts is a key part of the team; the auctions are held at Sentower Park in early May.

In the Big Tour classes today the results for the 1.35 were;  first, British, Ben Walker with ‘Fygo von  d’Ouwe Grint’ in 55.15s; second and third were Spanish riders, Hugo Alvarez Amaro with ‘Casaspezia’, over two  seconds slower, in 57.28s and Carlos Borho Giron riding’Esprit de L’Esprit Z’.

The 1.30, was an extremely competitive 2Ph Sp: top of the podium was British, Stephen Lohoar with ‘Kameron LSH’ in 23.93s,  the only clear under 24s.  In second was Italian, Luca Maria Moneta with ‘Njves’ in 25.12s and in third, a mere hair’s breadth behind in 25.16s, was Australian James Arkins with ‘Braveheart R’. 

The Medium Tour classes were all speed FT, today and in the 1.45 class had double results.  The winners were;  British, Ellen Whitaker with the lovely mare, ’Demi Louvo’ (by ‘Vigo Cece’ x ‘Starsky de Brix’) who also won this class on the 15th and had the fastest clear today:  our other winner was Swedish, Sofia Westborg, with ‘Alencia von Hary Z’ (‘Action Breaker’ x Ernest’) who won the 1.40 on the 15th.  Jesus Garmendia Echevarria took a second with ‘Coco Star des GY’ and third with  ‘Value 2’.  The other second place was taken by Alix Ragot, on the podium again this time with ‘Coldplay EJ’ and the other third was taken by New Zealand rider, James Arkins with ‘Rosthwaite Cover Girl’. .

The 1.40 was a large class with two groups; the fastest clear of the day went to Swedish, Ebba Danielsson with ’T-Gavoli Z’ in 60.28s and our other winner was Italian, Paolo Paini with ‘Japonica di Ca’San Giorgio’ in 60.48s.  Second places were for British, Tabitha Kyle with ‘Desterly’ and Belgian, Dimme d’Haese with ‘Baccarat du Tertre’.  In third were Polish, Marek Lewicki with ‘Come’ and Italian, Lavinia Lo Bosco with ‘Zanta Z’.

Winning the 1.30 was Italian, Zoe Lia, on ‘Quarrycrest Reflection’, followed by Polish, Andrzej Oplatek with ‘Cascalou 3’ and in third was Swiss, Matin Fuchs with ‘Coromont’. 

These are our main results today here at the 30th Andalucía Sunshine Tour,  sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of Andalucía, through Tourism and Sports of Andalucía.  Tomorrow there are 13 classes including one Ranking class.

All results may be found both on our Sunshine Tour App and the official website www.sunshinetour.net where you may also follow live streaming of all the arenas or alternatively you can watch online at Clip My Horse.  Entrance to the show is free, there are parking areas, a commercial zone and numerous restaurants to suit all tastes.