The 1.60m class over two rounds designed by Javier Trenor was the biggest of the event and also proved to be the toughest. The time allowed was tight and a lot of riders had time-faults, with some of them having an early penalty at the second fence, a black vertical placed next to the gate of the arena. Clears took some time to come, but eventually Duff produced the first clear round of the class as 25th in the order.
A total of 11 riders advanced into the 2nd round, where six of them managed to keep a clear score. But only three would keep all the poles up during both rounds in the time allowed.
The Canadian rider entered the arena as number 6 for the second round and remained unbeatable with a time of 42.23 seconds aboard her feisty 11-year-old Hannoverian gelding (Abke X Grannus).
This was Duff’s first win at a 4* Grand Prix and she decided to pick up her prize by foot when Eh All Or None got too excited at the prize ceremony.
“I think it was a fantastic course and the course designer did a good job all week and my horse actually jumped very well in every class he jumped and I was very happy with how he jumped today in that track,” commented the winner after the class.
Last to go in the second round, France’s Olivier Robert had to settle for the runner up spot after a great effort with his 13-year-old BWP gelding Eros (Querlybet Hero X Forever) finishing in 45.31 seconds, more than a second behind the winner’s time.
Once again the best placed home rider of the class was Spain’s Julio Arias, riding this time the 13-year-old DSP gelding Lennox Luis (Levisto X Preussenulan) in 48.48 seconds. Arias also earned the Tyco Trophy for the best Spanish rider of the class.
France’s Reynald Angot carried a time penalty from the first round that placed him into the 4th place riding the 11-year-old Selle Français mare Symphonie des Biches (Kannan X Damiro B) in 49.09 seconds while Spain’s Francisco de Asís Arango Lasaosa decided ro ride two steady rounds keeping all the poles up with the 10-year-old Selle Français stallion Trianon du Rozel (Ok du Rozel X Unknown) carrying two time faults from the first round to pick another one in the second round with a time of 54.46 seconds for the 5th place.
You can see the full results of the class by clicking on this link.