Michel Robert and Koro d’Or use their last opportunity to win in A Coruña
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
For many riders it was the last chance on the third and last day of the international horseshow of Casas Novas to record their names in the winner’s list on the CSI****.
Michel Robert with the 10 year old French bred stallion Koro d’Or succeeded in doing so this evening in the Price of the Ayuntamiento de A Coruña, a 1.50m trophy with one jump-off.
The class was technical, big and the fences followed each other very quickly. Many bent lines and the final line including a triple combination and an enormous oxer after five strides debarred nearly all the favourite riders from finishing the course with a clear round.
Many competitors just failed shortly to qualify for the jump off and knocked the last fence down; for example Spanish professional Rutherford Latham.
The ice was broken by Great Britain’s youngster Tim Gredley, who rode the first clear round in this highly challenging jumping course, followed by his team colleague and good friend Robert Whitaker, son of the British show jumping legend John Whitaker.
For a long time the spectators had to wait for another clear. Favourites like Jessica Kürten, Edwina Alexander, Bernardo Alves, Beezie Madden, Marcus Fuchs or Daniel Deusser all had to enter penalty points on their result account.
But then Michel Robert came, the established and experienced competitor from France who had already won a class on this show. He rode a spectacularly fast round in the course built by Spanish designer Javier Trenor Paz; and finished without one fault.
At the end, only three riders qualified for the jump-off.
The first one, Tim Gredley, rode a speedy but not too quick round in the jump off, he finished with 4 points. Robert Whitaker rode a fast clear round in 41.44 seconds. Curiously he watched Michel Robert entering the course. The French speeded round the course, finished clear and made the spectators scream as the time of 40.29 seconds appeared on the display panel. The brilliant atmosphere in this competition went to the top when Robert crossed the finish line. When he got out of the arena, he jumped off the horse and at first gave Koro d’Or a kiss. “I was going so fast in the jump-off and my horse helped me so well. He was very concentrated and jumped every fence perfectly.” The victorious rider picked up 8.750 € of price money for this win.
Behind the French and the British two riders got placed who had done clear in the course but who had exceeded the time allowed of 80 seconds. 4th was Thomas Frühmann, and 5th the Argentinean Martin Moschini, second placed in the national championships of Argentina; they both finished the competition with 1 penalty point.
The best Spanish rider ended up being 6th with 2 points, Luis Astolfi with Nastois du Bosquetiau.
Another highlight of the evening was the Pricewaterhousecoopers Trophy for the most successful rider of the show. A cheque in the amount of 10.000 € was handed out to Thomas Frühmann during the last price giving of the show, who had won one big class and the Grand Prix; and additionally finished 4th in the small Grand Prix of the CSI**** A Coruña 2008.
