Vejer de La Frontera, Spain – March 03, 2019 – It was a splendid summer day yesterday in Vejer finishing off the first CSI 4* week of the Sunshine Tour, with the €93,600 Grand Prix CSI 4* class sponsored by Caser Seguros.  Over the last four days more than 650 horses have taken to the arenas during an intense schedule of top level competition.  Today the climax of the week was the GP class with a spectacular win from Peter Moloney (IRL) riding the mare “Ornellaia” from Team Harmony.

There were just five riders through to the jump of this impressive class with the Belgian rider Gudrun Pattet (BEL) and Sea Coast Valdelamadre Clooney just missing out on one time-penalty.  First to go was the Swiss rider Carlo Pfyffer (SUI) and Intermezzo (Kashmir van Schuttershof x Querlybet Hero) as the crowd held their collective breath as he flew round with a neat clear.  He was just pipped at the post by “Ornellaia” who took the lead, with just under second in hand.  The Swedish international rider Frederik Jönsson (SWE) and Cold Play (Contendro I x Argentinus) rode to win but couldn’t quite catch the other two, placing third in 44.31 seconds. Julio Arias (ESP) and Billy Twomey (IRL) both had a pole down and took fourth and fifth (resp).

Javier Trenor was the course designer today, he told us:  “for the first CSI4* here at the Tour and being the beginning of the season, the track was sufficiently big and technical.  It rode a little harder than I thought it might but this is maybe because the horses are not quite yet on form”.  He also told us; “It’s true that the time allowed should have been a little tighter but this did help make the track a little more comfortable to jump”.

It was a testing day of exciting classes here at the Tour but also a very emotional day. The Blázquez and Arango families; and all of the people involved with the Sunshine Tour,  dedicated today to the memory of the much loved and very sadly missed Alfonso Arango, who was a wonderful rider, loved by everyone and is much missed as a regular part of the Sunshine Tour family.

Alfonso,  we will never forget you.

For full results, please click here.

Photo: © Sunshine Tour