The first international event ever to be held at the facilities of the Royal Spanish Riding School is promising to be a real ‘sunshine show’ - yet not a ‘tour’... All in all a 115 horse-rider combinations responded to this first call to compete in Jerez in 2015; teams have been arriving since Sunday at the beautiful venue. Traditional Pure Breed Andalusian Horses from the Royal School are sharing their brand new Martin Collins arenas with their guests for the next couple of days.Spanish National stars are competing at this first selection trial for the Spanish National Federation, with the most important competition event upcoming, they are training towards this years´ TOP competition the European Championships in Aachen.
José Antonio García Mena has brought NORTE LOVERA along, Claudio Castilla, a native from Jerez came to his town with several horses, of course some lusitanos, Cristobal Belmonte the winner of 2013 Copa del Rey presents DIAVOLO DE LAUBRY and we hope to see Carmen Naesgaard back on the scene! Of course there are participants from the riding school too: the ‘models’ from the 2015 show-poster are Belen Bautista and her Pure Breed Spanish TABASCO, they will compete in Grand Prix. She´s a former pupil of Ignacio Rambla and Rafael Soto, two of the famous school riders.
Of course Portuguese rider María Caetano is not missing, leading an important group of riders from the neighbour country. But Jerez gathers combinations from 9 different nations. Honestly we have to admit some of them are half Spaniards, as they enjoy live under the sun, some of them are ex-patriots. ‘With love from Russia’, from Portugal, Norway, Great Britain, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are some riders and horses who came a long way to Jerez.
The warm climate, to start out the season with an outdoor with a great atmosphere and a total of 4 FEI 5* judges, are some of the attractions of the show. Maribel Alonso is on the scene in Jerez, this ‘first lady’, will be at all 5 international shows in Spain, she is the next Olympic ground jury president, appointed in Rio de Janeiro for 2016. Fancis Verbeek (Hol), Peter Holler (Ger), Hans-Christian Mattheisen (Den), Jo Graham (Gbr), Cesar Lopardo and Juan Carlos Campos, Paco Guerra and Micky Jordá join her ‘on duty’.
This show offers lots of services to make life easier for riders, grooms, owners, trainers and any others involved in the top performance. Many of the online tools can ease bureaucratic processes and save time: a complete digital (electronic) data system from the reservation of the box, the bedding, online scoring, the live streaming of the show, video library, and more.
The Royal Spanish Riding School from Jerez takes this project on with it´s partner Topiberian. ‘It has been a challenge this year. But we are confident this is the start of an exiting adventure. Competition made in Spain! It is only the start of an ambitious calendar for 2015 - 2016 and following years,’ states Federico Padrón, show director of the event.
The Royal Spanish Riding School of Jerez is where it all once started, Alvaro Domecq, David Hunt, Luis Lucio and Rosin Fradera were at the very beginning together with some of the first outstanding riders like Rafael Soto, Ignacio Rambla and Antonio Cid who have put Spain on the dressage scene, all this 2 and a half decades ago. Dressage has enjoyed since than nothing but growth, as latest numbers from an FEI report tell us.
The Royal School has opened it´s historic “Palacio Recreo de las Cadenas” to all friends and fans of the Dressage world. A restaurant will be hosted in it´s beautiful salons with views to the main competition arena.
It´s a unique opportunity to compete and enjoy a distinguished, historic, Spanish atmosphere. Sponsored by LA GUITA, JARACAR-JEEP, Momento Andaluz, El Diario de Jerez, la Junta de Andalucía, Tourism Office of Andalusia and Bodega Juan Gil.
Live scoring and free live streaming worldwide will be available from Thursday on 9.00 AM when the show begins with the young horse tests. Grand Prix get´s on it´s way on Friday afternoon at 15.00 pm. The event kicks off on Wednesday the 25th with the Veterinarian Inspection.
The international competition in Spain is growing more and more. After the great experience of last year, this 2015 will have the Southern Dressage Tour waiting for top riders: 3 beautiful locations offering CDI´s held at top facilities, Jerez – Barcelona – Madrid.
From Thursday 26th of February until Sunday 1st of march you can follow direct Live Streaming through www.topiberian.com the CDI3* Jerez with comments by Bobby Fdez. de Bobadilla, former Director of the Dressage Department of the Royal Spanish Equestrian Federation, in English.
Follow direct Live Streaming and feel free to send your comments by Twitter with the hashtag #CDIvuelveaJerez
For any further information on where to stay, what to see, where to eat, directions and more visit the official show website events.topiberian.com, which will have continuous, updated information on the event.
Or please contact jerez@topiberian.com. |
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