Rabat, Morocco – October 12, 2023 – With the Nations Cup on the line, the Rabat leg of the Morocco Royal Tour featured a major event on the first day, the €26,200 Wilaya Rabat Sale Kenitra Prize CSIO 4*-W, a qualifier for the Grand Prix World Cup, which takes place tomorrow, since the Nations Cup will be run on Sunday. This Faults and Time class also counted towards the Longines FEI World Ranking. This first class ended with a hat-trick of victories for the Squadra Azzura, for whom Morocco seems to be smiling.
Forty-six riders set off with different objectives. Some were playing for the win, others preferred to give their horses a workout and quietly secure their qualification for Friday’s Grand Prix. This was definitely not the case for Italy’s Emanuele Gaudiano (ITA), who concluded his Tétouan campaign with a Grand Prix victory with Nikolaj de Music and opens his Rabat account with a fourth 2023 Morocco Royal Tour victory with Jaja, who won two speed classes last week!
This time, the son of Zirocco Blue VDL had to step up a gear with this 1.50 m class, which the grey won by just six tenths from Scuderia 1918 Quick And Easy 3, the mare riden by Italian Giulia Martinengo Marquet (ITA).
A third Italian rounded off the podium, Roberto Previtali (ITA) on Come On Semilly.
They were ahead of Morocco’s Abdelkebir Ouaddar (MAR) who stated: “I congratulate the Italians, of course, but to be honest,” confessed the Moroccan show jumping leader, “I didn’t set out to win this event. I wanted to secure my qualification for the Grand Prix while protecting my mare Ceika Malouine, whom I’ll be riding in the Nations Cup on Sunday. Tomorrow, in the Grand Prix, I’ll be saddling Istanbul”… Istanbulbull V.H Ooievaarshof, who delighted the Moroccan public last year by winning the Grand Prix in Tétouan and El Jadida. All that’s missing now is the Rabat Grand Prix. What about tomorrow? “I don’t know,” smiled Kebir. Above all, I want to be optimistic for Sunday’s Nations Cup, and for that I have confidence in my team-mates, who are highly motivated”.
And he seems to be right, as the other 4* class, the Prix ANCFCC, was won by one of his compatriots, Jad Guerraoui (MAR), while the winner of the Rabat 2022 Grand Prix, El Ghali Boukaa (MAR), took fifth place.
See you tomorrow afternoon for the Grand Prix Coupe du monde SAR La Princesse Lalla Amina. With a Moroccan victory? Or an Italian one?
Final Results – €26,200 Wilaya Rabat Sale Kenitra Prize CSIO 4*-W
1) Emanuele Gaudiano (ITA) & Jaja – 0 – 62.58
2) Giulia Martinengo Marquet (ITA) & Scuderia 1918 Quick and Easy 3 – 0 – 62.64
3) Roberto Previtali (ITA) & Come On Semilly – 0 / 0 – 62.83
Source: Press Release (edited) from Agence R&B Presse for the Morocco Royal Tour
Photos: © Agence R&B Presse / Adèle Renauldon
Categories: CSIO 4*, English, Jumper News Italia
