El Ghali Boukaa (MAR) and A Kyss (Diamant de Semilly x Cabdula du Tillard) took a popular home win in Friday's CSIO4*-W 1.50m World Cup Prix Sar La Princesse Lalla Amina in Rabat, Morocco.
A total of ten pairs out of the 40 horse-and-rider combinations in the class cleared the first-round track set by Gregory Bodo, but only the top four managed to deliver a double clear. With a time of 43.08 in the jump-off, Boukaa took the win ahead of Portugal's Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida on Imposant van de Renger (Comme Il Faut x Corland) – with a little over a second separating the two riders. "I have been riding this mare for just one year and she has been amazing. I am very happy, very moved, it is an indescribable feeling," the happy winner said in a press release from Morocco Royal Tour 2022. "His courses were magnificent, we had the best course designer today," he said about the work of the French course designer Gregory Bodo. “Personally, I love to ride his courses and today he delighted us with his layouts, it was magnificent."
"My owner entrusted her to me just a year ago because his daughter was leaving to study," Boukaa said about his horse A Kyss. "At the time, she was only jumping 1.25m courses. Then his other daughter took her back for a while to do slightly bigger courses, then she left too and this time I got her back enduringly and it's a huge chance. Today, she won a Grand Prix at 1.50m, she still has a step to take to reach the top level. I'm going to go this winter to Simon Delestre's where I love to train, and we'll see if she's capable of taking this step."
Antonio Matos Almeida (POR) on Calypso de Kamelia (Kannan x Le Tot de Semilly) placed third, while Majid Djaidi (MAR) on Mister d'Eclipse (Diamant de Semilly x Caretino) took the fourth place and Barbara Schnieper (SUI) on Escoffier (Lord Z x Numero Uno) the fifth.