With 51 horse-and-rider combinations lined up, the CSI3* 1.50m Dammann Reitplatz -u. Sportplatzbau GmbH Grand Prix brought the final week of MET I to a close at Centro Ecuestre Oliva Nova. A total of eight pairs qualified for the jump-off, with only three of them producing a double clear. In an all-Portuguese victory, António Matos Almeida guided the just eight-year-old Portuguese Sport Horse gelding Old Boy SJ (Upercut Kervec x Orville III) to a clear round in 37.34 seconds.
Spain’s Mariano Martinez Bastida followed just behind, taking second place aboard Bacardi O (Bellini Royal x Leonetti) with a clear round in 37.90 seconds. Dayro Arroyave and Arctic Light B (S & L Exxon Hedonist x Gingerino) completed the podium with a clear round and a time of 40.34 seconds. With four faults and a time of 36.36, Lars Kersten (NED) and Cascalino 7 (Casallco x Landclassic) took fourth place, while Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann (GER) and Messi van’t Ruytershof (Plot Blue x For Pleasure) finished fifth with four faults in 36.73 seconds.
“Everyone wants to win the Grand Prix, and it’s really special to win here in Oliva, especially with an eight-year-old horse,” Almeida said after the class. “This was only his second 3* Grand Prix. He jumped his first one last week, and now, in his second one, he won. I’m really happy for him, and for myself as well. The level of competition was high, so to win is something special.”
“It’s actually the first time he’s competing on a tour,” Almeida explained about Old Boy SJ. “When he was six, he only competed in Portugal, and it was the same when he was seven. So he’s still quite green at this stage. I’m really happy in this moment, that’s all I can say.”
