The 2018 Vilamoura Champions Tour came to an end yesterday at the Vilamoura Equestrian Centre in Quarteira, Faro, Portugal. The grand finale of a very successful 2018 season at Europe’s friendliest venue featured a €50,150 Grand Prix CSI 3*.

Ivan Serrano Saez (ESP) & Tam Tam du Valon flying towards victory

Fifty-seven combinations lined up for an exciting class but only seven of them managed to clear all the 1.50m obstacles in the first round and registered no penalties to qualify for the tiebreaker.A challenging but fair course took a toll on the competitors once again, with only two posting another penalty-free performance.

Ivan Serrano Saez (ESP) standing victoriously during the awards ceremony

In the end, Ivan Serrano Saez (ESP) and Tam Tam du Valon came out on top. The Spaniard rode the 11-year-old chestnut Selle Français gelding (Ogrion des Champs x Quidam de Revel) to victory backed by a final time of 45.94 seconds.

Maximilian Lill (GER) and Checkers (Coronado 3 x Clerus) didn’t push quite as hard, finishing second in 48.73 seconds.

Patrick Lemmen (NED) and Eline Maria M (Diamant de Semilly x Carthago) were the fastest ones among all the finalists, but this came at the expense of one rail down, meaning that their score of 4 and time 45.12 seconds would be good enough for third place.

Ivan Serrano Saez (ESP) receiving his prizes during the awards ceremony