Canadian Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady are on fire in the CSI5* Massimo Dutti Trophy
Press Release | Showjumping – As the weather turned a bit stormy and rain began to fall, the 5* competitors at the Longines Global Champions Tour Mexico City jumped on. International course designer Uliano Vezzani (ITA) set a difficult 1.50-1.55m track that put even some of the best riders in the world to the test. Of 52 entries, only eight were clean and six double clean, with Canada’s Eric Lamaze laying down the gauntlet aboard his Olympic Bronze Medal mount Fine Lady for the win.
Press Release | Showjumping – As the weather turned a bit stormy and rain began to fall, the 5* competitors at the Longines Global Champions Tour Mexico City jumped on. International course designer Uliano Vezzani (ITA) set a difficult 1.50-1.55m track that put even some of the best riders in the world to the test. Of 52 entries, only eight were clean and six double clean, with Canada’s Eric Lamaze laying down the gauntlet aboard his Olympic Bronze Medal mount Fine Lady for the win.
The sixteen efforts asked a multitude of questions including adjustability and scope. A delicate plank coming out of a forward four-stride concluded the course at far corner of the expansive grass field. Several riders had a heartbreaking four faults at that ultimate obstacle.
In the jump-off, Nicola Philippaerts (BEL) and nine-year- old Holsteiner stallion Chilli Willi set the pace going double clean in 42.34. Slicing a second off that time, Italy’s Alberto Zorzi finished double clean in 41.33 with Cornetto K. Then in galloped the fifth-ranked rider in the world, Lamaze, and his fine fourteen-year- old Hanoverian mare. Without a glitch the pair left out strides wherever they could, finishing in a blazing 38 seconds flat, over three seconds faster than Zorzi.
Next, Great Britain’s Scott Brash, ranked eighth in the world, rode the eleven-year- old Belgian mare Hello M’Lady with style and speed, slipping into quite a close second in 38.24. Two more attempted to take the lead but finished in third and fourth: Yuri Mansur of Brazil and Christian Kukuk of Germany stopped the clock in 40.02 and 40.55, respectively.
Valkenswaard United Lead the Global Champions League After Round 1
The first 36 competitors in the class also rode for their Global Champions League (GCL) Round One scores. Riders try to avoid faults as teams throughout the season to determine who will champion this competitive league come November. Valkenswaard United kicked off the season with a clean slate after both Alberto Zorzi (ITA) and Bertram Allen (IRL) posted clean rounds for a starting score of zero. Simon Delestre (FRA) and Jerome Guery (BEL) collectively posted only one fault for the St. Tropez Pirates. The Hamburg Diamonds, Chantilly Pegasus, and Madrid in Motion each finished with eight faults.
Round two of the Global Champions League competition will take place this Saturday. Just the first GCL week of 2017, it will certainly set the precedent for an exciting season.
VICTORY FOR IRELAND’S BERTRAM ALLEN AND QUIET EASY IN THE GNP SEGUROS TROPHY
“Q” and “Q” were one and two today. Quiet Easy and Quite Nice finished first and second in the first CSI5* class of the Longines Global Champions Tour season, the GNP Seguros Trophy. At the gorgeous Campo Marte in the center of Chapultepec Park, 51 competitors galloped through the two-phase course set by Italian course designer Uliano Vezzani, and it was Quiet Easy with Bertram Allen (IRL) and Quite Nice with Gonzalo Azcarraga (MEX) who put the pedal to the medal to claim the top two spots.
At just twenty-one years old, Allen, currently ranked 14th in the world, is already known as a force to be reckoned with in a speed phase. Aboard the thirteen-year- old Oldenburg gelding Quiet Easy, he was the only rider who made the tight rollback turn from the Massimo Dutti vertical to the Mazda oxer in nine strides, stopping the clock in 26.37. Twenty-seven- year old Gonzalo Azcarraga on the Oldenburg mare Quite Nice came the closest to catching Allen but still finished over a second slower in a time of 27.59 for second place. Both phenoms went midway through the class and could not be beat. Riding eleventh in the class, Belgian Jereme Guery, ranked 30th in the world, held the lead for a while with a time of 27.67, which ultimately landed him in third place on the podium.
Twenty-two riders went double clean, demanding significant speed to earn a spot in the money. In fact, the tie for twelfth was just three seconds slower than third place, with several top riders giving gallant efforts to claim top honors. Nicola Philippaerts (BEL), Enrique Gonzalez (MEX), and Jos Verlooy (BEL) were fourth through sixth, respectively.
ARGENTINA’S BRUNO PASSARO TOPS CDMX TROPHY 2*
Bienvenidos a Mexico City for the first stop on the 2017 Longines Global Champions Tour. Picture perfect in every way, the pristine grass field welcomed 48 starters in the opening CDMX Trophy 2* competition. The international entries took to Brazilian course designer Anderson Lima’s track with gusto, and twenty-eight- year-old Bruno Passaro aboard the nine-year- old Selle Francais mare Urbana Des Etisses claimed the fastest time in the two-phase class for the win.
Coming in a close second was the third pair to gallop around: Mexico’s Nicolas Pizarro with his ten-year- old Mexican sport horse mare Temascaltepec. Riding both phases like a speed class, the pair maintained a quick pace and set the time to beat at 25.98. Several riders stopped the clock at just over 26 seconds, until the twenty-fifth attempt, that of Passaro and Urbana. Their time of 25.67 barely edged Pizarro out of the top spot. The only pair to beat the time was Alejandro Mills (MEX) and the gorgeous Dutch stallion Bartender, breaking the timers in 25.16 but with an unfortunate four faults, relegating them to ninth place. With a time of 26.05, Denmark’s Nikolaj Hein Ruus aboard the twelve-year-old Oldenburg mare Chaccoletta earned the third spot on the podium.
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Source: Press Release
