04 March '26
Impressive performance in Oliva
© Mediterranean Equestrian Tour - Hervé Bonnaud
With competitions in both Oliva, Valencia and further afield in Vejer de la Frontera, last weekend was another particularly busy day under the Spanish sun. At Oliva's Mediterranean Equestrian Tour in particular, the Z-horses managed to produce impressive figures, claiming victory in the day's main class four days in a row.
The second leg of the Spring MET Tour in Oliva concluded last weekend with a busy three-star competition, with the CSI3* Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon undoubtedly the absolute highlight of the week. Dutch course designer Louis Konickx and his team had mapped out a particularly challenging and technical course for this Grand Prix. Indeed, out of a total of forty-four combinations who took their chances, only five managed to finish the 1.50m-high course successfully and thus qualify for the jump-off. In it, it was Swiss rider Faye Schoch who triumphed with the 11-year-old grey gelding Cornetto DB Z, a son of Cornet Obolensky and Inshallah de Muze bred by Audrey De Bock. With a finishing time of 45.77 seconds, Schoch and Cornetto DB Z were the slowest of the five, but they were the only combination to once again manage to keep zero on the scoreboard in the jump-off.
Faye Schoch: "I didn't expect all this! Cornetto jumped absolutely fantastic. When I looked at the course, I actually thought it was quite high. But he jumped so well, he really fought for me. I was also here last week in the Grand Prix and then we didn't have the best jump-off, so today I wanted to do better. I'm not the fastest rider and I just wanted to ride a nice round. Luck was on our side (laughs). Cornetto is now 11 and I bought him when he was 4 years old. I didn't aspire to ride fast and jump high immediately. I just took it easy with him, step by step, and I'm totally crazy about him now."
Besides Faye Schoch and Cornetto DB Z's victory in the CSI3* Grand Prix, we could enjoy a second blue/yellow victory in Oliva on Sunday. In the 1.45m Longines Ranking class scheduled in the morning, it was young Belgian rider Bart Jay Junior Vandecasteele who claimed the top prize with the 10-year-old stallion Lotti Blue Z, a son of Le Blue Diamond Van 't Ruytershof and Wandor van de Mispelaere from the breeding farm of Alfons Van Bruyssel. Vandecasteele and Lotti Blue Z, who on Friday still finished 3rd in the 1.50m Grand Prix Qualifier, kept it neatly clear in both the1st and2nd stages and with a finishing time of 26.58 seconds they were just under a full second ahead of the competition.
First in that line of competition were Bolivian rider Karen Boos Pegler and the 12-year-old mare Honesty CTV Z, a daughter of Hoegie Van 't Bergske and Mozart des Hayettes bred by the trio Casais, Thonon and Vanhoutte. They too kept it neatly clear twice, managing to stop the clock in 27.55 seconds in the2nd phase.
A third victory in Oliva came in the name of Frenchman Antoine Ermann and the 10-year-old stallion Delirium Zoetendaele Z, a son of Diamant de Semilly and Der Senaat 111 born to breeders Carine and Arnold Lootens. Ermann and Delirium Zoetendaele Z were the final laureates of the 1.50m-high Grand Prix Qualifier on Friday, where, with a whirlwind round in 64.14 seconds, they were more than a second and a half ahead of their closest pursuer. During the 1.45m high Longines Ranking Test on Sunday morning, they further confirmed this performance by securing another 4th place.
Following their victory in the CSI3* Grand Prix the week before, the Spanish rider Mariano Martinez Bastida and his 17-year-old gelding Belano vd Wijnhoeve Z (Berlin x Darco), the breeding product of Danny De Cuyper, were also victorious this week. During the 1.45m Longines Ranking class on Saturday afternoon, they did not make a mistake in either the1st or2nd phase and with a finishing time of 36.39 seconds they wrote another victory on their record.
Earlier on Friday, Czech rider Vanessa Ingrid Pecina also jumped into the limelight with the 12-year-old chestnut stallion Surprising Dream Sho Z (Stakkato x Carthago - breeder: Stal Het Oosterbrook). During the Gold 1.40m class, they produced a flawless performance, which earned them the final 4th place in the ranking.
Last but not least, the 1.45m main class on Thursday also got a Z horse at the top of the rankings. That was done by Colombian rider Dayro Arroyave with the 9-year-old chestnut gelding Kafka Van Paebroek Z (Kannan x Carthago Z), who was born to breeder Koen Sneyders. Arroyave and Kafka Van Paebroek Z finished in 71.02 seconds in this speed class, outclassing the competition by seventy hundredths of a second.