Sunday's CSI4* 1.55m Grand Prix Memorial Stephanie Searle 'Selleria Equipe' at the Toscana Tour 2024 ended in a battle of two, were Emma Emanuelsson (SWE) and the 10-year-old mare Canbella Blue PS (Cantolar x Chacco-Blue) went out on top.
Only two of the fifty riders that had qualified for Sunday's Grand Prix over three days of tough competition in Arezzo managed to clear Uliano Vezzani's testing first-round thirteen-fence track, that had all his signature ingredients – and was set in the impressive Boccaccio grass arena. Serving as a MER qualifier for the Paris Olympics as well as the 2025 European Championships, Vezzani had not saved on the difficulties with even some of the world's best failing to answer the questions asked by the Italian mastermind.
First to deliver a clear was Emanuelsson, and it was not until the very end of the class that a jump-off was secured as Philipp Weishaupt and the 10-year-old gelding Zineday (Zinedine x Polydor) – 2023 European vice champions – delivered the second clear.
First to go in the jump-off, Emanuelsson piled pressure on Weishaupt with a beautiful clear round in 41.62 seconds – cheered on by a full house who enjoyed top sport under the Tuscan sun. Weishaupt set off meaning business, but had to see two rails hit the ground early on in the course and slowed down to finish on eight faults. The third place went to home heroine Giulia Martinengo Marquet and her lovely Delta Del'Isle (Tibet Tame x Grain de Soleil) who were kept out of the jump-off by a single rail down. This was also the case for her compatriot Francesco Turturiello and Quite Balou (Quite Capitol x Baloubet du Rouet) who finished fourth, followed by Jörne Sprehe (GER) and Sprehe Hot Easy (Andiamo Z x Otangelo) in fifth.