Exciting U25 final with a Spanish surprise winner and a lucky Sophie Hinners –
Álvaro González de Zarate Fernandez – not exactly a name you come across every weekend. But today the Spaniard put a crown on his end of the U25 period. Against strong competition like the German champion Sophie Hinners.
Great success for lvaro González de Zarate Fernandez. In the Grand Prix of the U25 Tour at the CHI Geneva, the Spaniard left eight competitors behind in the jump-off with the first nine-year-old OS gelding Carte de Blue PS.
Of the nine pairs who crossed the finish line without a mistake in the first round of the 1.45 meter jump, a third remained without a throw-off a second time. Including González de Zarate Fernandez, in a time when no one else died: 41.79 seconds. A clear victory and thus a great end to his U25 time for the Spaniard who was born in 1996.
His horse, the chestnut Carte de Blue PS, was bred by the Lewitz stud. Niclas Baule brought the gelding into the sport before moving to Spanish ownership in 2020. Officially, Lewitz still holds shares in him.
The rider in second place is better known as the 20-year-old Irishman Jack Ryan in the saddle of the CardGto son, who is also only nine years old. The two have been a team for a while. In 2018 Ryan rode the gray at the World Championships for Young Show jumpers. In the meantime they are victorious in Nations Cups and this year they are part of the silver team at the European Young Rider Championships. Today she gallops across the finish line after 42.85 seconds.
The third faultless pair in the jump-off were the Austrian Alessandra Reich and the BWP gelding Oeli R, seven years young, a son of Denzel vh Meulenhof. Correspondingly, 47.29 seconds are enough for the two for the white ribbon. It is also the last U25 season for Alessandra Reich. However, you already have a lot of experience and numerous successes with seniors. So she represented her home country at the European Championships in Riesenbeck in 2021 and became Loyd with her best horse.
Thibault Philippaerts finished fourth on Broadway du Mormoulin. In the end, there was a drop. But it wouldn’t have been enough for victory even without it. The Kannan-Son War is a hundredth of a second slower than the winning couple. The 20-year-old Thibault is the middle one of the Philippaerts brothers and has plenty of experience at European championships for all youngsters. Twice team gold, most recently in 2021, one single bronze and one team silver are his results.
The rider in fifth place (4 / 43.28) had actually dreamed of being able to ride the five-star tour in Geneva: German champion Sophie Hinners. When that didn’t work out, she wanted to see if she could ride the U25 tour. The lists were actually already closed, but the organizers were so happy about your request that they promised to get in touch as soon as another rider is canceled. And so she was able to compete in the U25 tour at the CHI Geneva for the second time, this year on the eleven-year-old KWPN gelding Fair Field v. Zirocco Blue. The gray is a giant, but he is super rideable, says Sophie Hinners. She had the gelding under saddle during her time in the Hendrix stable. When she switched to the team at Hofgut Dagobertshausen, Fair Field initially stayed in the Netherlands. But recently she was allowed to take it over again – and now keep it until it is sold. This weekend, the huge jumping gray horse certainly aroused desires with a fourth and a fifth place.
You can find all results here.