FRIDAY AT ROYAL WINDSOR SEES THE FEI CSI5* GET UNDERWAY
Friday 11 May 2018
Daniel Deusser (GER) made a winning debut at Royal Windsor Horse Show, taking the feature class of the day, the 1.50m CSI5* Bahrain Pearl Stakes, in spectacular style. With sixteen horses through from the first round, it was an exhilarating jump-off, with an open course encouraging forward riding and leaving no margin for error. Second to go, Canada’s Eric Lamaze and the bay mare Fine Lady 5, set the pace with a fast and faultless round that was sure to take some beating adding considerable pressure on the field to come behind him. Following him into the prestigious Castle Arena, home rider Robert Smith, looked like he might pose a serious threat with an extremely tight turn to the double across the middle of the arena. But crossing the line in a time 0.58 seconds behind Eric it was only enough for eventual fourth which shows how close the top places were determined.
As fifth to go in the jump-off, Daniel, riding the fourteen-year-old mare Equita Van T Zorgvliet, rode a beautifully smooth and deceptively fast round to shave 0.15 seconds off the previous fastest time and take the lead, stopping the clock in 37.63 seconds. With eleven riders to follow, the win was by no means certain, but no-one could topple him from pole position. The notoriously fast Emanuele Gaudiano (ITA), riding Chalou, posed the biggest challenge as last to go, but despite exceptionally tight turns throughout, his time of 38.22 seconds was only good enough for third place.
Earlier in the day, it was a Belgian one-two in the opening CSI5* competition of the Show, the Manama Speed Stakes, a 1.45m two phase competition. As first to go, Ireland’s Cian O’Connor set the standard with a double clear aboard Veneno, however compatriot Bertram Allen was the first to lay down the gauntlet, knocking over eight seconds off O’Connor’s time. Belgium’s Francois Mathy Jr, a recent winner at CSI4* Hagen, jumped an impressive round, keeping his foot to the floor throughout and making an exceptionally tight turn to the Big Ben fence at 12, to post a time of 28.93 and take the lead. Crowd favourite, Britain’s John Whitaker, came close to challenging with a time of 30.25, but it was not until the penultimate to go, Wilm Vermeir, riding the twelve-year-old chestnut mare Gentiane De La Pomme, that the lead was jeopardised. Taking a stride out to the planks at 11 and galloping to the last, Vermeir managed to knock 0.27 seconds off Mathy Jr’s time to take the victory.
The CSI2* competitions saw teenager Sienna Charles post a win in the Speed Stakes with her father Peter Charles’ 11 year-old grey mare Chaitanya. Jumping clear in a time of 51.43 seconds saw her lead the almost twenty strong field to claim the lead. Joe Davison on Vileno took second in a time of 54.14 seconds with Jay Halim and Gentleman van de Riethandel taking 3rd. This saw Great Britain hold the top three places in the line up with further placings further down the line in the form of Tim Stockdale and Tadeus along with Scarlett Charles and Damn Smooth finishing 8th and 9th respectively.
The CSI2* Windsor Stakes, saw GB’s Tim Stockdale with the 11 year-old Tornado des Monts finish 3rd behind Taylor Alexander (USA) and Ryanair de Riverland who secured the win with Evie Butler (AUS) take 2nd. George Whitaker and Chaplin took 5th and Tracy Priest 6th with Caristo VDL.
For full results visit www.rwhs.co.uk
Tickets for Royal Windsor Horse Show are still available via www.rwhs.co.uk and on arrival. Tickets can also be purchased by calling the box office on 0844 581 4960 from the UK and +44 (0)121 7966290 internationally.
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