Vejer de La Frontera– February 11, 2023 – Michael Hughes (USA) rode a foot perfect jump off round today in the beautiful grass Hickstead arena, in the €26,800 Small Grand Prix CSI 4*, 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 (GER) who stopped the clock in 40.38 seconds. She rode an equally elegant round with Clash Royale. This lovely bay gelding is by ‘Clarimo’ x ‘Wellenspiel’ and is owned by Ashford Farm – Steve Macken.

Norwegian rider, Victoria Gulliksen (NOR) 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.

Final Results – €26,800 Geolastic Small Grand Prix CSI 4*

1) Michael Hughes (USA) & Eclatant – 0 / 0 – 40.37

2) Jana Wargers (GER) & Clash Royale – 0 / 0 – 40.38

3) Victoria Gulliksen (NOR) & Thuur Z – 0 / 0 – 41.88

Source: Press Release from  Andalucía Sunshine Tour

Photos: © Sunshine Tour / Moises Basallote Fotografia / Equus Media

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