British triumph in the Porsche Grand Prix, a wonderful end to the CSI1* LGCT Madrid

The third and last day of the 114 CSI LGCT Madrid International Jumping Competition 1* included in its program the most important event of the competition, the Porsche Grand Prix. An exciting tie-breaker decided the final classification, which was won by British Sophie Evans, with “CSIO Bel”.

Three new class were held on the closing day of the CSI1*, the last of which was the Porsche Grand Prix, in which 40 teams competed for the victory. For this they had to face a first round of 12 obstacles, with a triple and a double, and heights of 1'40 meters, which thirteen of them managed to overcome without fault, passing to the decisive tie-breaker.
A tie-breaker in which the fastest pace was set by a young British rider and an expert Argentinean rider, although resident in Spain: Sophie Evans and Juan Ignacio Álvarez Fermosel.

The young British rider, with a brilliant European record in the youth category, went all out with her sorrel “CSIO Bel” over the 7 obstacles of the jump-off, with breakneck speed in the final gallop towards the vertical of the Club de Campo that closed the course. Sophie stopped the stopwatch in 40'72 seconds, a very difficult record to beat.

And indeed, no one succeeded, although a combative Juan Ignacio Álvarez Fermosel came close, despite the lack of experience of his horse “Pinoccio”. The Argentine rider and the son of “Quantos” finished without fault, with 40'94 seconds, only 22 hundredths more than the British rider, securing the second place in the final classification of the class.

Third, with a brilliant double zero and a time of 42'53 seconds, was a rider from the host club, Claudia Arango Varela, riding “Fortis du Rozel”, while three other Spanish riders finished their two rides without fault. Enrique Camiruaga was fourth with “Perlenband”, sixth Pilar Lucrecia Cordón with “Machiavelli B” and seventh, Miguel Álvarez-Buylla riding “Roxanne V”, all of them horses and mares only 8 years old.

Ignacio Carrasco, marketing director of Porsche Ibérica, presented the Porsche Trophy to Sophie Evans, accompanied at the trophy ceremony by Álvaro Arrieta and Juan Carlos Vera.

GILMAR Trophy

Prior to the Porsche Grand Prix, the GILMAR Trophy was held, a time trial in which 34 teams took part and which had 22 rounds without fail. Two of them managed to stop the stopwatch in less than 60 seconds and a difference of 75 hundredths of a second gave the victory to Ali Hussain Alnowais. The rider from the Arab Emirates won his second victory in the competition with the same horse, “Narcos vd Smidshoeve”, with which he finished in 59'05 seconds.

His immediate follower was Juan Ignacio Álvarez Fermosel, in a streak of good results, who rode “Balzac Varennes” in 59'80 seconds. The leading trio in the final classification of the GILMAR Trophy was completed by the Portuguese Luis Alexandre Dolgner, riding a very young mare, 7 years old, named “Paula M 5”.

Rocío Gil Oset, GILMAR's Director of Institutional Relations, presented the trophy to the winner, accompanied by Ignacio Mallagray, Marketing Director, and Laura Pérez Maestro, Communications Director.

Club de Campo-Villa de Madrid Trophy

The closing day of the CSI1* Longines Global Champions Tour Madrid started at 9 am with the Club de Campo-Villa de Madrid Trophy, in which 23 riders took part. The test, with obstacles of 1'15 meters, had 14 rounds without fault and a new triumph of a Spanish rider.

The protagonist of the victory was Alejandra Masoliver, rider of the host club, who won with the mare “Sevilla de Villafranca” with a time of 62'33 seconds, compared to the 63'07 seconds that the second classified rider, another rider from Madrid, Alejandra Gómez-Saiz, riding “Negusita”, used in her ride. In third place was Caroline Baudry, from France, with 64'37 on “In Love des Majuros”.

Juan Carlos Vera, manager of the Club de Campo-Villa de Madrid, presented the trophy to the winner, while María Arboledas Cique, director of works and infrastructures, and Antonio Vos, financial and commercial director, presented the trophy to the second and third classified riders, respectively.

The program of this first day of the 114th CSI LGCT continues on the green track of the Club de Campo-Villa de Madrid with the two races of the CSI5*, the Trofeo ¡HOLA! 1.45m and finally, the waiting Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix de Madrid 1.60m.

Tickets are now on sale

Tickets can be purchased online at www.oxersport.com, with prices starting at €17 for adults and €10 for children. Children under 7 are admitted free.