Saturday's CSI4* 1.45 Small Grand Prix at the Sunshine Tour went to home hero Manuel Fernandez Saro, who rode the 12-year-old gelding Jarlin de Torres (Jarnac x Calvaro F.C.) to the victory in a 15-horse jump-off.
No less than 90 horse-and-rider combinations had lined up for the Small Grand Prix, which counted for the Longines Ranking, during the second week of competition in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain. Only seven of the 15 that made it to the jump-off managed to deliver a second clear, and fastest of all was Manuel 'Fanfa' Fernandez Saro who stopped the clock at 40.07 seconds to snatch the win from Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Double Jeu d'Honvault (Kannan x Cook du Midour) by 1.07 seconds. Third place went to Jane Annett (GBR) and Billy Tudor (Cevin Z x Andiamo) in 41.47, while Will Edwards (GBR) and SSH Candies B (Chacco-Blue x Heartbreaker) finished fourth, followed by Jack Ryan (IRL) and Catch-Me van Berkenbroeck (Cicero van Paemel x Nonstop) in fifth.
The host nation also went off with the win in the CSI4* 1.50m Medium Tour, as Kevin Gonzalez De Zarate Fernandez took the top honours against a field of 45 riders. Aboard Favorito (Indoctro x Habsburg), the Spanish rider clocked a time of 39.49 seconds in the second phase, leaving Martin Fuchs (SUI) and Che Tipa (Casero della Caccia x Ogano Sitte) behind him in second in 43.21. Yuri Mansur (BRA) and Olisco.P. finished third, followed by Leina Benkhraba (MAR) on Geisha des Sequoias (Bamako de Muze x Kannan) in fourth and Michael Greeve (NED) on Jimmy Lee Gjb (Up to Date x Armitag) in fifth.