The second leg of the Morocco Royal Tour closed with the highlight of the event — the Nations Cup — where a young team from Belgium jumped to the highest step of the podium making it the second Belgian victory since the inception of the MRT in 2016. The podium saw Switzerland and France occupy the second and third steps of the podium respectively.
On a course that was fluid at the start and more technical towards the end, Switzerland struck hard from the outset, stringing together three clear rounds that enabled Barbara Schnieper to rest Canice in the first round and drop Belgium to 4 points behind. An option for victory, but nothing is definitive in the Nations Cup after the first round, as the rest of the story proved.
After a second clear round from Elian Bauman (Little Lumpi E), the foundations of the Swiss castle were shaken by the twelve faults scored by Mehdi Roessli-Dobjanschi and Valderama Tame. Alexandra Amar and Vincy du Gue’s small overtaking time fault further weakened the Swiss edifice, while the Belgians lined up clear rounds in succession: Virginie Thonon and Edgard de Préfontaine, Cyril Cools and Milton Z and above all Marine Scauflaire and Hortus d’Hoogpoort, who erased their poor first round result (16 faults) in style: “I was actually very confident for this second round, as I know my horse well. It was my first Nations Cup, and I missed my first round, but I didn’t ask myself any questions and went into the second round with full confidence”. Jérôme Guéry didn’t need to start, as his team-mates’ triple zero could not be improved, of course. Barbara Schnieper, on the other hand, had to take Canice out of the stall with the onerous responsibility of producing a clear round with no alternative for the Swiss to win. But the blue oxer after the water-jump proved fatal for Barbara and the “Nati”, who slipped back to second place: “It’s the law of this sport,” philosophized Jérôme Guéry, “one man’s misfortune is another man’s gain. I put myself in Barbara’s shoes… it’s true that when she came out onto the arenan, we honestly hoped she’d make a small mistake… the pressure couldn’t have helped her, and I know what it’s like to have been in that situation”. France completed the podium by moving up one place in the second round!
Rabat thus concludes on this fine sporting note, but the adventure of the Morocco Royal Tour 2023 continues and will resume next week in El Jadida, as part of the Salon du Cheval d’El Jadida where the public – always very present in this beautiful blue hall where such a warm atmosphere reigns – will find most of these champions – horses and riders – Moroccan and European from Thursday onwards.
Morocco Royal Tour in Rabat Wrap Up
On the first day of competition, the Prix Wilaya Rabat Sale Kenitra — a qualifier for the Grand Prix World Cup — was held. The Faults and Time class also counted towards the Longines FEI World Ranking and ended with a hat-trick of victories for the Italians.
Emanuele Gaudiano, who concluded his Tétouan campaign with a Grand Prix victory riding Nikolaj de Music, opened his Rabat account with a fourth MRT 2023 victory ,this time with Jaja under the saddle who he won two speed classes with the previous week!
Second place went to Scuderia 1918 Quick And Easy, a mare ridden by Italian Giulia Martinengo Marquet. A third Italian rounded off the podium: Roberto Previtali aboard Come On Semilly who closed ahead of Morocco’s Abdelkebir Ouaddar.
And he seems to be right, as the other 4* class, the Prix ANCFCC, was won by one of his compatriots, Jad Guerraoui, while the winner of the Rabat 2022 Grand Prix, El Ghali Boukaa, took fifth place.
Marine Scauflaire & Cuba Libre de Nevada Z – photo by Adèle Renauldon/R&B Presse
Friday saw girl power reign supreme in the CSI4* 1.55m Grand Prix Car La Princesse Lalla Amina. Belgian rider Marine Scauflaire, at only 30 years of age, competed in her first MRT and took her first-ever victory in a 4* Grand Prix. Scauflaire was not expecting to win with a relatively young horse. “Cuba Libre de Nevada Z has been moving in the right direction for a few months now, but I didn’t expect him to win here. But every time, for several months now, he’s been there. I set off in this second round with the sole aim of getting a clear round, but not to win, as Cuba Libre is still relatively ‘green’ and not everything is yet perfect… but the game has turned in our favor today”. A fine reward for her work as a trainer, as Marine herself has been training this gelding since he was 5 years old, and he still belongs to his breeder, Karel Van Damme. Second place went to Roberto Previtali of Italy riding Conthargo-Blue, and third was for France’s Jeanne Sadran riding Kosmo Van Hof Ter Boone.
Saturday was a great day for Moroccan show jumpers who scored three victories. The highlight of the day however, the Prix Maroc Telecom, was all about Ireland’s Jessica Burke who took the win with a home-bred horse, Express Trend. For Burke this was the fourth international victory of the year. The first round qualifies the twelve best riders for this “winning round”, where the counters are reset to zero. This was just right for the Irish rider who had one down in the first round with her Irish mount: “He’s a 13-year-old horse that I’ve been riding for 10 years. It’s the specialty of our stables; we train our own young horses. So I’ve known Express Trend since he was 10. We know each other off by heart, and he’s a very efficient horse. The fence down in the first round was entirely my fault. Thank God, I benefited from that rule today!”
Moroccan youth triumph in the Grand Prix 1*
The highly technical Uliano Vezzani-designed Grand Prix 1* course allowed only five of the forty-six competitors to make it through to the jump-off. Among them, the young Moroccan Jad Guerraoui (17) was the first to set off on this decisive round: “It doesn’t matter to me whether I’m first or last: when I set off in a jump-off, it’s not to beat the others, but quite simply to beat myself. Especially as there were only five of us, I might as well play double or nothing… either I’d win or, in the worst-case scenario, I’d finish fifth”. Helped by his parents and the Royal Moroccan Federation of Equestrian Sports (FRMSE), Jad Guerraoui is one of the Kingdom’s equestrian hopefuls. He shone at last year’s FEI Youth Equestrian Games in Aachen, where he won two medals: team bronze and individual silver. So he’s runner-up in the U18 World Championship, but a junior with ambitions: “I’ve already competed in 2 and 3* classes, and here I’m also taking part in the 4* (he won the Prix 4* ANCFCC with Virtuoso des Flagues on Thursday -editor’s note). My aim is to become a professional rider. I’m supported by the FRMSE, but at the same time, I’m going to study business… you never know. But plan A is definitely an equestrian career”. Concerning, Gloria de Kreisker, his mare, her affix is famous, especially in Morocco… and, by golly, her granddam, Briseis D’Helby (Laudanum xx) is none other than the dam of a certain Quickly of the same name! The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
A fine day for Morocco, in fact, as Jad Guerraoui’s victory followed on from another 1* win in the morning (Badr Khiati) and, above all, preceded the second Moroccan success of the week in 4*, that of Leina Benkhraba with Geisha des Sequoias in the accumulator. For the record, at the age of 22, Leina Benkhraba was the first Moroccan, Arab and African rider to take part in a World Equestrian Games, at the 2014 edition in Caen, Normandy.
By Edited Press Release
