Incredible performance by Jerome Guery in the first day of Longines Global Champions Tour in Madrid

The Belgian rider won the CSI5* 1.55, and 1.45m class, and Shanghai Swans achieved the best score in the qualifying team round.

Jérôme Guery stood out since the start of the Longines Global Champions Tour in Madrid with two consecutive victories in the most important classes of the day. The Belgian rider, European team champion in 2019, won with “Grupo Prom Diego” in the CSI5 * Marqués de Riscal Trophy, a 1.55 m course designed by Santiago Varela (appointed course designer for Tokyo 2021) that required the 47 riders to compete at the highest level. “I feel wonderful,” said Guery after taking his second trophy on the sand of the Club de Campo.

Jérôme Guery

I feel wonderful”
Jérôme Guery

The Brazilian rider Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and “Obora’s Chloe” achieved second place, scratching a few hundredths of a second and surpassed Marcus Ehning and “Misanto Pret a Tout”. At the same time, the first qualifier of the Global Champions League was being played in Madrid, the second leg of the international team league, in which Shanghai Swans stood out leading the classification. The excellent performances of Christian Ahlmann with “Take a Chance on Me Z” (sixth in the individual classification) and Max Kühner with “Vancouver Dreams” (the seventh fastest pairing of the event) have raised Shanghai Swans as the only one of the 16 teams to finish the double round without faults.

The main competition of the day turned out very positive for the host team, Madrid in Motion, second on the podium, fighting this weekend to improve their eighth position in the Global Champions League ranking. The duo Eric van der Vleuten and his son, Maikel, reach great advantage for tomorrow’s final thanks to their no-fault rounds, except for a single point of excess time by Eric and “Wunchkind 19”. The current leader of the ranking, Valkenswaard United, of which Marcus Ehning is a member, came third after the downing of fellow Olympian Peder Fredicson. Only three Spaniards have taken to the track in this test and Eduardo Álvarez Aznar was the rider with the best result, 8 points riding “Seringat”.

Previously, Jérôme Guery had already demonstrated his and his horses great form, winning in the previous class, also scoring for the Longines FEI Ranking, the CSI5* IFEMA Madrid Horse Week 1.45 m Trophy. There were two rounds left to finish the competition when the Belgian and his explosive gray stallion “Grupo Prom Milton” beat the very fast Eric Lamaze by just one hundredth of a second over “Chacco Kid”. The Canadian is off to a good start at the second leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour, two months after winning bronze at the Doha Grand Prix. Belgian rider Constant van Paesschen and his stallion “Vendetta Treize” also set a good time and completed the podium of a competition with 55 starts on the track and 20 results finishing with zero points. However, the loudest applause from the stands was started by the round without faults from Ismael García Roque and “Silhouette Island”, the highest-ranked Spanish couple, in sixth position.

Jérôme Guery riding grey stallion, Grupo Prom Milton

Outstanding performance by the Spanish in the CSI1 tests *

Spanish medals dominated the first half of the day. The obstacles gained height and complexity starting at noon, with the 1.40 m CSI1 * ClipMyHorse.TV Trophy, in which the Spanish anthem was played three times. Kevin González de Zárate, one of the usual winners of the national competiitons, and “Conthargos Rouge”, an 11-year-old horse that gives a kick to the air in each jump, carried out an impeccable round with an unbeatable time of 27.44 in the second round. The silver was won by Pedro Mateos two seconds later over “Chamant de Biolley” in another brilliant performance, in which he ousted Gonzalo Añón and “Qlamp d’ Ivraie ”, relegated to third place. The young rider, 16-year-old Irishman Tom Wachman, achieved a deserved fourth place with “H H Fireball”.

Kevin González de Zárate riding Conthargos Rouge

The competition started in the morning with the first of the nine CSI1 * events that make up the weekend, in which a total participation of 79 riders and 100 horses, with 42,000 euros in prizes. The podium of the first Club de Campo Villa de Madrid Trophy, a height of 1.15 m of barely fifteen pairs (four of them international), was Spanish, with Pedro Mateos and his stallion “Nacara van Berkenbroeck Z” at the head. In the second class of the day, the 1.25m Villa de Madrid Country Club Trophy, the gold also stayed at home thanks to Irene Mónica Horvath Jaume and “Dismoitout de Blondel”, who stood out from the other 36 pairs for only a few tenths of a second.

Throughout the day, the attendees of the Club de Campo have respected the anti-Covid security measures. The capacity of the facilities, limited to 50%, has been noticed in the stands of the Madrid grass arena, which in the last edition of 2019 were packed, while the masks have been omnipresent among fans. However, riders and the public have been able to enjoy the good weather, an excellent gastronomic and commercial offer and the best equestrian competition.

You can watch the videos of each of the day’s competitions on ClipMyHorse.TV.