THE third part of the Autumn Mediterranean Equestrian Tour (MET) 2023 commenced last week with competitions being held at Centro Ecuestre Oliva Nova in Oliva, Spain. This was the first of three weeks of competition and it concluded with the CSI2* 1.45m Grand Prix on Sunday.

Out of the 67 starters, 11 jumped clear around the first-round track set by course designer Gregory Bodo from France, who will be building the courses at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, along with Santiago Varela. Luxembourg’s Victor Bettendorf and Simolo de La Roque Z (Spartacus TN x Casall, bred by Top Stallions Company) were the fastest combination to jump clear, crossing the finish line in 36.07 seconds.

Following his win, Bettendorf said: “I think Bodo did a great job the whole week. I know him well from France, and when he is building the courses, it always seems to work out quite well for me - so I am happy when he is there. Probably he is already thinking about the Olympics, testing some fences and lines. I really like his courses; they are never too high, they are more technical and the efforts towards the horses are not too big - they are more geared towards the rider.”

“I saw many mistakes on the two last fences, so I went a little bit more outside for the penultimate fence and had one stride less on the last line and I think that is the distance where I won,” Bettendorf said regarding the jump-off.

“For me, this is the third or fourth year I am coming here,” Bettendorf said of the venue. “This is a great place for producing horses, with good course builders and good footing. I really like to come here with my horses, either to end a season or to start one. The atmosphere is nice and it is great to be in the sun, while others have half a metre of snow at home.”

Fernando Martinez Sommer (MEX) and Charlie Harper had to settle for second place in 37.11, while Jamie Kermond (AUS) and Isis came third in 37.73. Kim Emmen (NED) and Macho V placed fourth in 39.23, followed by Adrian Speight (GBR) on Millfield Baloney in fifth with one down in 35.61.

Ireland’s Niall Talbot rounded off a great show with a seventh place on FTS Elliott.

Young Horse Champion

The show got underway last Tuesday, November 28th, when Kildare’s Michael Pender riding HHS Savanna was a joint- winner in the Seven-year-old 1.35m class, going on to win the Seven-year-old 1.35m Immediate Jump-off class on Wednesday with the Irish Sport Horse mare owned by Marion Hughes, and also taking the MET Seven-year-old Young Horse Champion Trophy.

Michael Pender and HHS Savanna won the Seven-year-old 1.35m Immediate Jump-off class on Wednesday and the Seven-year-old Young Horse Champion Trophy at the Autumn Mediterranean Equestrian Tour \ 1clicphoto

Niall Talbot had a super day on Friday, winning the 1.45m Grand Prix qualifier with FTS Elliott; winning a 1.40m class with Doris de l’Oiseliere and placing eighth with H’Ayla Verano in another.

Saturday saw Talbot placing seventh with H’Ayla Verano in the Silver Tour Grand Prix 1.40m jump-off class, with Pender following in 11th place with HHS Cornetta.

Talbot then rode Doris de l’Oiseliere into first place in the 1.40m Two-Phase class on Sunday and then won a 1.30m class with Deep Sea Semilly.

The Autumn MET III 2023 continues next week and runs until December 17th.

Sentower Park

Elsewhere in Europe, on Sunday, December 3rd, Edward Doyle Jnr rode Imora into fourth place in the CSI1* 1.20m Two-Phase Special at Sentower Park in Belgium.