14 October 2017
Salteras: Perfect Marathon Day
Today was Marathon Day at the CAI2* and Andalusian Championships in Salteras. The weather conditions were excellent with some clouds in the morning and the sun only came through as the horse fours entered the obstacles. Level 2 Course Designer Vilmos Jámbor from Hungary had flagged the seven obstacles very nicely, which resulted in many different routes driven by the competitors.Horse Singles
Jose Garcia set the fastest times in three obstacles and won the marathon in the single horse class. Ana Muñoz finished in second position and has taken over the lead in the standings. Dressage winner Joaquin Rodriguez has dropped to the second place. Joaquin Llorente was well on his way to win the marathon, setting the second fastest times in the first four obstacles and the fastest time in the last one, but two knockdowns prevented him from winning this phase of the competition.
Jose Garcia
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
Horse Pairs
Antonio Repullo set the fastest times in three obstacles and was the second fastest in the other four hazards, which resulted in a clear win. Oliver Lange finished in second place, followed by Jose Gayan who managed to keep his lead in the provisional standings. Repullo however is only a little more than one penalty point behind him, which will result in a very exciting cones competition tomorrow. Dressage winner Daniel Gutierrez had an expensive corrected error of course in the sixth obstacle, keeping him from the second place in the marathon. Daniel has now dropped to the fourth place in the standings. Manuel Arjonilla was eliminated for missing a gate.
Antonio Repullo
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
Horse Fours
Juan Real Garcia won the marathon in the Horse Fours class, despite loosing a bit of time in obstacle four when one of his leader horses was not very cooperative. Juan has taken over the lead in the standings from Ernesto Colman, who lost precious seconds when his leader horses went into a wrong gate in the water obstacle. Luckily he was able to direct them into the right gate, but this cost him a top three placing. Llibert Calvet drove a very nice and steady marathon with international trainer Gerard Leijten from the Netherlands as his navigator and secured the second position in the marathon. Calvet has moved up to the second place in the standings with a difference of seven points to the leader Juan Real Garcia.
Daniel Pineda finished in first and second place with his ponies in the Benjamin class, leaving the third place to Marina Rodriguez.
Juan Real Garcia
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
