2020 Sunshine Tour: Holly Smith Holds on to Her Top Spot with Another Win in the CSI3*  Caser Seguros Grand Prix

Holly Smith and Alberto Zorzi during the prize giving. Holly Smith and Alberto Zorzi during the prize giving. ®Oxer Sport

The XXVI edition of the Sunshine Tour hosted in Montenmedio, Spain, runs February 12 through March 23 and offers over € 1.300.000 prize money.

The CSI3* Gran Prix turned out to be an exciting competition on Sunday, March 8. The jump off just kept getting better and better and had the crowd on the edge of their seats cheering.This demanding class was sponsored by Caser Seguros and a good number of competitors got though to the jump off which was a long one that demanded forward riding.  “There were 15 of us through to the jump off, that’s enough!” said Holly Smith. “This type of course is great, not too short and complicated so you don’t have to set up the horses too much for each jump.”


Everyone knew that the fast Irish rider Anthony Condom and Sfs Vincomte had raised the game after their round. He beat the previous leader Belgian rider Bart Clarys by a few hundredths of a second, but the crowd was aware that the last riders to go were all fast and talented. The stage was set for a brilliant final three battling it out: Alberto Zorzi from Italy on Vauban du Trio rode a very fast, neat round with great tight turns and took the lead away from the Irish rider by more than a second. Then in came Pedro Veniss representing Brazil  riding a new horse in his string, Boeackmanns Lord Pezi Junior, “a horse I have been riding since January and who I did very well with in the first weeks of the Sunshine Tour, coming third in the GP CSI3*” he said.  No-one was sure if Pedro would go for the win on the 11-year-old horse previously ridden by Marcos Kutscher from Germany. However, Pedro flew around the course in great style, leaving a very difficult job for Smith in order to pull off a win. “The course designer, Elena Boix, did a good job today,” said Veniss. “It was a technical first round and the jump off course was also good.” From start to the finish Boeackmanns went at full speed in a balanced extended pace with great turns as they reaped a great reward taking two seconds off of the previous  winning time.
The crowd went wild and then in rode Smith, the British rider who is shortlisted to jump at the Tokyo Olympics later this year. She regularly competes at the Sunshine Tour and is often seen on the highest step of the podium. Yesterday she won the Small GP John Deere Trophy, shortly after arriving at Montenmedio.  “I think I got my advantage over Pedro between the first to the second jump which he did in 8 strides but the way I angled it allowed me to take one out,” she said.  Her time of 39.25sec was fast enough to take top honors with the wonderful Hearts Destiny who really knows how to win a jump off at this level of competition. “Last year we won the CSI4* Suzuki Grand Prix and well, I have two fantastic horses here this year to ride in the GP. Hearts Destiny is a wonderful horse with a great stride and a lot of quality,” she added. The crowd was amazing there was a lot of cheering and applause the top five riders during the prize-giving and during the lap of honor.
 

The 1.45m Big Tour was held in the morning in the grass Hickstead Arena which saw Dermott Lennon triumphant, Matthew Sampson in second place, and Michel Robert third.  
Once again 19-year-old Irish rider Jason Foley was in the prize money in this fourth week of the Tour. In the Medium Tour GP which was up to height at 1.45m, he beat the 12 competitors in the jump off riding Madorada DW. “She is only 8-year-old and has a great future ahead of her,” said Foley. “I hope that next year she will become my top ride. Last season she improved a lot and now we know each other pretty well as I have been riding her since she was 5. I have to say she is very careful and powerful even though she has no experience at this height. This is a great result for her and for her owners Matteo Pelmglio and Gerard O’Neil.” In this class the Spanish rider Sira Martínez, who is the daughter of the Spanish football team trainer, Luis Enrique, was third on “Hanna van het Lambroeck”.

The 1.35m, Small Tour C, was also won by Jason Foley, this time with Castlefield Sapphire, a horse that is improving step by step and who is fast and careful. In second was Tom Watchman with Ava Vernon. There was a Spanish win in the Medium Tour 1.35m, from Iván Serrano who lives in Cantabria, riding Velcom. They have had good results all week and have built up to this win. Serran also came third in the Big Tour 1.30m class, riding Numerus. He was beaten by Rodrigo Sampaio and Dutch rider Kim Emmen.
So the CSYH* and the CSI3* finished off the week here at the Sunshine Tour. More than 1,900 are stabled here in these amazing installations that can boast to be utterly unique as they are the in the only sports facilities in Spain with the organic certification seal, issued by the certification body that specializes in organic production, the CAAE.
You can watch the thrilling Caser Seguros GP jump off on Teledeporte during the coming week and on many other international media outlets.


Edited Press Release by Oxer Sport - www.oxersport.com