The intense day spent on the centre court of IFEMA MADRID HORSE WEEK
concluded with the full stands containing a lively audience that enjoyed the Six Bars competition. Here ten pairs competed for victory with Maikel van der Vleuten as final winner.
The first course consisted of six fences in two combinations. The last combination consisted of four verticals, the last one having a height of 1.62 metres. Of the 10 riders who started the competition, six finished with clear rounds, qualifying for the first tiebreaker. Jesús Garmendia with "Valut 2" was very close, but made a fault the penultimate vertical.
In the first tiebreaker, also with a layout of six verticals, the last had a height of 1.72 metres. Four of the five riders who disputed it finishes with a clear round. The German Philipp Weishaupt, winner of this competition in the first edition, decided to retire with “Che Fantástica”.
The ringmaster raised the height of the last vertical of the second tiebreak by ten centimetres. Here the layout, unlike previous routes, had one combination of four verticals. All three participants finished this course with a maximum height was 1.82 metres, with a clear round.
The last jump-off, with the final vertical at 1.92 metres, was disputed by two riders, since Eiken Sato decided to retire with “Calcento JRA”. Martin Fuchs, number two in the FEI ranking, made a bar fall with “Commissar Pezi”, while Maikel van der Vleuten and “Dywis HH” finished it all with a clear round, taking the win.