IRELAND’s Heike Holstein and the 10-year-old Irish-bred mare Sambuca recorded an excellent third place finish in tonight’s (Friday) four-star Al Shira’aa-sponsored Grand Prix Freestyle to Music at Royal Windsor show in the UK.

A hugely impressive performance saw them score 74.915% to take third spot on the podium behind Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and Erlentanz who took the win when scoring 81.90%, while Richard Davidson (GBR) finished as runner-up with Bubblingh on a score of 78.31%. A second Irish rider, Dane Rawlins also finished in the top 10, taking ninth place with Espoire on a score of 66.97%.

Speaking afterwards, a delighted Holstein said: “Sambuca is a natural performer. She really shined in the arena here at Windsor. Sambuca is only a 10-year-old in her first big tour international season and she had to deal with very wet conditions in the Grand Prix yesterday when we scored 70%. She came back today and scored nearly 75% in the freestyle, in front of a huge crowd, which really shows how much more there is to come from this wonderful mare.”

On Thursday, Holstein and Sambuca claimed an impressive fifth place finish in the Grand Prix, while Rawlins and Espoire finished ninth.