Valle de Bravo CSI4* offered three classes in the main arena on a picture perfect Thursday. The final class of the day, the FEI 1.45m Longines Ranking class, was the qualifier for Saturday's highlight event, the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping, Valle de Bravo, presented by Scappino. Three out of thirty-seven horses negotiated Guilherme Jorge's track without fault and once again Brazil's Rodrigo Lambre and the quick Argentinian mare Charielle (Mario Onate, owner) were clean and fast for the win.
Fifteenth to go and first clean was Nicolas Pizarro of Mexico on his second mount of the class, the 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding, Barbaro. Six rounds later American Audrey Coulter rode fault-free aboard Alex, a 12-year-old, Westphalian gelding. And last to go, Lambre and Charielle rounded out the three to return.
Pizarro set a deceptively fast and clear jump-off round, as the smooth track didn't seem speedy in 43.51. Clearly out to win, Coulter set a forward pace but even without her single rail on course, her time of 45.21 did not beat Pizarro. Fresh off yesterday's win in the FEI Welcome Speed Stake, Lambre piloted Charielle on a tidy track to stop the clock clean in 41.18, once again winning by a fairly wide margin.
Time was a factor in the first round, as the 4th through 6th placed riders scored only one time fault and the 7th place horse finished with a score of two time faults. Aside from those four entries another dozen finished with both faults on course and exceeding the time allowed.
Fifty-six horses competed in the FEI 1.35m Speed Class earlier in the day. Of the twenty-nine who went clean, Mexico's own Juan Pablo Gaspar Albanez rode Shamrock V (owned by Eric Hochstadter) to the win in 49.63. Francisco Lomelin rode Balzane du Noyer (Hank Melse B.V. & European Sporthorses, owner) second fastest in a time of 50.73, with a close third going to Manuel Gonzales Dufrane and Desie (owned by Andres Gonzalez de la Parre), stopping the clock in 50.98.
Source: Press release from CSI4*-W Valle de Bravo // Picture © Anwar Esquivel.