ROBERT WHITAKER AND CATWALK IV, WIN THE ‘RIVES’ GP.

Press Release Sunshine Tour – Once again Robert Whitaker and Catwalk IV win a top class here at the Sunshine Tour and in the very competitive seven horse jump off today they were untouchable. The 1.55m GP class was sponsored by Rives, designed by Javier Trenor and was an FEI Longines Ranking class. In just 45.22 sec the pair flew into the lead with a spectacular round. Afterwards Robert Whittaker told us that; it was a very important win today as after two weeks building up here, they were now on excellent form. He added that  “Catwalk IV is my best horse and I always ride the GP classes with him. I have five horses here but three of them are just eight year olds and are not ready to tackle such big tracks just yet. However, they are all going very well and will be ready for bigger classes in the very near future, maybe even at the end of the Tour.

In second place, in this Rives GP, was another British rider, Tim Wilks riding Quelbora Merze. This pair stopped the clock in 45.62 sec with a very neat, fast round. In third was Spanish rider Iván Serrano on Chaccman in 53.17 sec. Richard Howley with Chinook from Ireland slotted into fourth place today and Luca Moneta with Herold from Italy came fifth.

There was another British win in the Big Tour C; this was an FEI Ranking Class at 1.45m. The winner was Joe Whitaker riding Lavarno and his very fast time of 60.71 sec was unbeatable. Richard Howley this time with Calmond, took second in 62.87 sec and the Dutch rider Vincent Voorn was third on Quinlan in 62.98 sec. British rider Kayleigh Watts with Winde was fourth and Belgian rider Stephanie Andries with Javenia was fifth.

In the Big Tour B, both first and second place winners were British, Harriet Nuttall with Silver Lift, celebrated her birthday with a win, followed by Robert Bevis with Etude. In third was Adrienne Dixon riding Zuidam from the USA, in fourth Billy Twomey with Pewit Nono for Ireland and in fifth the French rider Hugo Breul with Follina Van Ter Hulst.

The Big Tour A2 was won by Belgian rider Virginie Thonon with Danaide Du Houssoit, second was Swiss rider Laetitia Du Couëdic with Elisa and the Czech rider Anna Kellnerova with Atessa was third. In fourth was the British rider Lance Whitehouse with Cartino III and fifth was British rider Jordan Thompson with Eclips V.

There was another British one, two, in the Big Tour A1 class courtesy of Mark Armstrong and Balougio III. Harriet Nuttall had another birthday success this time in second, on Highland Cruiser II. Belgian rider, Boy-Adrian Val Gelderen with Elmira took third place and in fourth and fifth were the British riders Theo Simpson on Alvin Only and Douglas Duffin on Pyjama Jack.

In the Califa sponsored, FEI Longines Ranking Medium Tour GP; there was an Irish win with Alexander Butler and super grey horse Hallowberry Cruz and beating off 14 other competitors in the jump off. His time was just 35.14 sec, and he took the lead from Matthew Sampson who ended up with second place for GB, on the lovely Roi in a time 37.03 sec. Carly Anthony from the USA was third riding King Edward and British riders Abbe Burchmore-Eames with Wilandri E and Chloe Winchester with Sheyenne 2 took fourth and fifth. There were some special prizes given out to the winners from Grupo Califa, as well as the usual rosettes, trophies and prize money.

There was another Irish win in the Medium Tour B, with Greg Broderick and Cartouche V Overis Z topping the podium. French riders Alice Jonqueres d’Oriola with G and C Tropigold and Regis Bouguennec with Vitale de St Ladre took second and third place.

There was a British win in the Medium Tour for Simon Crippen and Atlanta VIII with a very neat, fast, clean round. Pedro Mateo with Vasco de Mars for Spain was second and Columbian rider Nicolás Toro with Zimmermadchen was third.

In the Small Tour classes the winners were as folllows: C class,  Burchmore-Eames with Booming Blue Z ; B class, Rosile Biedron with LVS Wizard from the USA and A class, British rider Jake Ward with Frederick VII.

Tomorrow is the Vet inspection for this week’s show. On Tuesday the Young Horse Classes begin for the 5,6 and 7yr olds and we will also hold the Small GP class that was postponed yesterday due to adverse weather conditions.

Source: Press Release Sunshine Tour