The twenty top-ranked pairs from Friday's Longines Grand Prix took part in the prestigious Equita Masters presented by Hermès Sellier, organised over two rounds on Saturday evening at the Longines Equita Lyon, Concours Hippique International. Switzerland's Steve Guerdat, the reigning European champion, won the class on Caracho, at the end of a breathtaking battle.
After being rescheduled due to the storm on site in the morning, the two Grand Prix in El Jadida, 1* and 4*, were held as normal thanks to the indoor arena. All's well that ends well for Virginie Thonon and Q - Famous Van Berg Op Zoom, winner of the ONMT CSI1* Grand Prix and for Italy’s Emanuele Gaudiano with Nicolaj de Music, winner of the World Cup Grand Prix of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. The Italian achieved the same feat as Abdelkebir Ouaddar last year, winning both the Grand Prix of Tétouan and El Jadida.
Two French victories in the two 4* classes on the third day of the El Jadida CSI. By winning the Prix FPB with his young Anglo-Arab Espri du Figuier, Olivier Robert showed the way to Nicolas Deseuzes who claimed the win at a neck-breaking speed. His mount, Eldorado Sunheup Z, is built to win, according to his rider. "I can make headway over obstacles, he keeps his balance naturally, and he's very respectful," he said.
For this kick-off in El Jadida of the Longines FEI World Ranking classes, a Faults and Time course, the Swiss course designer Gérard Lachat, built a technical and tricky course. But that didn’t matter for New Zealand’s Tom Tarver-Priebe who today recorded his first victory in the Morocco Royal Tour 2023 held in El Jadida during the Salon du Chevalier d’El Jadida.
After two magnificent stops in Tetouan and Rabat, the Morocco Royal Tour 2023 resumes today (Thursday 19 October) in El Jadida in indoor as part of the Salon du Cheval D'el Jadida.
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.
Italy's Emanuele Gaudiano, one of Morocco Royal Tour's most loyal riders, has won a respectable number of classes in Tetouan over the last ten years (as last Thursday and Friday with Jaja), but he has never won the Grand Prix. This is now the case, thanks to his powerful 10-year-old Belgian stallion Nikolaj de Music.
It's a double two-peat for Simon Delestre who won the same Prix de Dakhla last year and who repeated this victory on Saturday evening in Tetouan with Olga van de Kruishoeve, the mare with whom he triumphed yesterday in the Prix de La Marche Verte.
The Morocco Royal Tour Prix de la Marche Verte, a qualifier for Sunday’s World Cup Grand Prix, saw world number 10, Simone Delestre of France, take the win riding Olga van de Kruishoeve.
Thirty-nine riders were on the starting grid, but only two of them - including the team bronze medalist at the last European Championships, Austrian Katharina Rhomberg, who unfortunately had a small problem of understanding with Colestus Cambridge - were unable to take part in Sunday's Grand Prix.
The Morocco Royal Tour 2023 is underway. Forty-six competitors in the CSI 1* and seventy-three in the CSI 4* representing eighteen nations and three continents, a situation which delights Badre Fakir, General Manager of the Fédération Royale Marocaine des Sports Equestres and kingpin of the Morocco Royal Tour: "This twelfth edition is a continuation of the previous ones, with the determination to maintain this well-established position on the international circuit, while constantly striving, year after year, to improve all the components of our three competitions, not only in terms of organization, but also in terms of welcoming international riders, while at the same time giving our national riders the opportunity to express themselves among the world's elite."
Team Sweden made history by adding European Team gold to their accolades which include the Olympic and World titles — a mission accomplished in two years only.
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