Cremona, May 20—The 2020 edition of the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) European Futurity, held concurrently with the 2020 IRHA/IRHBA/NRHA Futurity in Cremona, Italy, wrapped up on Thursday night with the €160.623,00-added European Futurity Open Finals.
 
Nailing the €71.000,00-added Level (L)4 Open and €48.000,00-added L3 Championships with a strong performance paid back by the judges with a 223.5 was Manuel Cortesi of Italy riding AR Vintage Dream owned by Azienda Agricola Cortesi Pietro. The duo had tied to lead the qualifier and bettered his score by a point and a half in the Finals. “This is truly a great horse who has always shown me how generous he is,” said Cortesi about his mount by NRHA Two Million Dollar Sire A Sparkling Vintage out of Sweet Candy Dream. “He was bred by Luigi Parise and nominated by Elisabetta Raviola, who we purchased him from as a 2-year-old. I’ve had him in training since and showed him at the 2019 IRHA Open Futurity where we had the highest composite score after the go rounds. Unfortunately, he had an injury the night before the finals and we had to retire him from competition for a while. Because of the pandemic, he had more time to reach tip-top condition and after showing him for the first time at a regional show a month ago, we came back to Cremona to make up for the lost time and I am thrilled because he truly deserves this!” The pair also took home the 2020 IRHA 4-year-old L4 Open Futurity title.