Text © World of Showjumping

The traditional Andalucia Sunshine Tour is in its first week of competition, and it was home hero Sergio Alvarez Moya and the 9-year-old mare Charisma HS (Uriko x Cassito) that took the biggest win as the CSI4* classes finally got underway – taking the top honours in the 1.50m Pavo Trophy.

The 1.50m course was designed by Uliano Vezzani, and sixteen horse-and-rider combinations out of the 48 in the class managed to answer all the questions asked. Fastest of all was Alvarez Moya, who with his round in 64.39 seconds pushed Brazil's Yuri Mansur and Miss Blue Mystic Rose (Chacco Blue x VDL Zirocco Blue) down to the runner-up position. Belgium's super-talent Gilles Thomas took the third place with Elfra Van Beek Z (El Salvador x Vagabond de la Pomme) in a time of 66.93 seconds. It was a good day for the Spanish riders as Eduardo Alvarez Aznar and Enjoy de la Mure (Vigo Cece x Sable Rose) finished fourth, followed by Czech rider Ales Opatrny and Forewer (Caruso 279 x Grossadmiral) in fifth. 

"I'm very happy with the mare, it was the first 1.50m for us together and she jumped great," Alvarez Moya commented to World of Showjumping. "She is owned by my friend Hugo Simon, and it is always special to win with one of his horses."