Text © World of Showjumping
The Andalucía Sunshine Tour in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain, is in its fifth week of competition and Friday's feature class was won by Matthew Sampson (GBR) and the 14-year-old mare Ebolensky (Clinton x Heartbreaker) – a pair that also topped the CSI4* 1.55m Horseware Big Tour Grand Prix during week one of the tour.
No less than 90 horse-and-rider combinations had lined up for the CSI4* 1.50m Schelstraete Equine Law Trophy counting for the Longines Ranking – also a qualifier for Sunday's Big Tour Grand Prix. Eventually, it was Sampson who snatched the win from Frank Schuttert (NED) and the 12-year-old Gream (Verdi TN x Ultimo) when shaving the time down to 63.13 seconds – 0.26 quicker that the Dutch rider.
The third place went to Penelope Leprevost (FRA) and Djagger Semilly (Diamant de Semilly x Apache d'Adriers) in 64.25 seconds, followed by James Smith (GBR) and Holly (Zambesi x Verdi TN) in fourth in 64.79, while Sanne Thijssen (NED) and Con Quidam RB (Quinar Z x Cardino) placed fifth in 64.92 seconds.
In the 1.45m Medium Tour counting for the Longines Ranking, it was Sanne Thijssen who took the top honours, riding the 12-year-old mare Clarima 6 (Clarimo x Quintero). With a time of 26.19 in phase two of the competition, Thijssen was over a second faster than runners-up Charlotte Bettendorf (LUX) and Babacool (Tlaloc M x Urbain du Monnai). Penelope Leprevost finished third with GFE Candy de Nantuel (Luidam x Diamant de Semilly) in a time of 27.34 seconds, followed by David Will (GER) on Zaccorado Blue (VDL Zirocco Blue x Acorado) in fourth and Commandant Geoff Curran (IRL) on Tempo Manor in fifth.