Edited press release from CAVALIADA Tour
Sunday’s CSI3*-W 1.60m Grand Prix in Poznań, Poland, counting for the Longines Ranking, World Cup Central European League and CAVALIADA Tour, provided the audience with a lot of excitement.
Eventually, seven out of the 48 competing pairs qualified for the jump-off after clearing the first-round track. As last to go, home rider Maksymilian Wechta and the 9-year-old Chepettano (Chepetto x Calido I) stayed focused under the pressure and delivered a clear round in the best time of the class – to the delight of the audience at Hall 5 at Poznań International Fair, going down in the history of CAVALIADA as the fourth Pole to ever win the Grand Prix. It was also the Wechta’s first international Grand Prix win.
“I had nothing to lose, and the perfect scenario became reality. I went as the last one, so the audience was hoping for a home win, and my friends and family also kept their fingers crossed. You surely have to be mentally strong in these moments, put the payoff is really worth it. The course designer Marco Hesse is really very good, and the courses were perfectly balanced. There was no crucial moment today and poles were falling all the way through. You had to be concentrated all the time and there were a lot of questions asked on the course. The jump-off was a bit difficult for me. I had one moment of doubt at the second to last fence, but I chose to trust my horse and he jumped wonderful,” said the winner.
Second place went to Annelies Vorsselmans (BEL) with Wilandro 3 (Unistar x Ramazotti), and third to Frank Schuttert (NED) riding Kinky Boy van het Gildenhof (Nabab de Reve x Darco).
The new leader of CAVALIADA Tour ranking is Hungary’s Zoltàn Czèkus, who finished seventh in today’s Grand Prix. Second position belongs to Greek rider Angelos Touloupis, and three riders are tied for third – Jarosław Skrzyczyński, Wojciech Wojcianiec and Annelies Vorsselmans.