Good weekend for Brits on Sunshine Tour
British riders were on dominant form on the Spanish Sunshine Tour last weekend (9 March), clocking a win and both runners-up spots in the 2 grand prix.
Robert Whitaker rode his parents’ (John and Clare) stallion, Catwalk IV (pictured top), into 2nd place in the 1.60m €50,000 Sunshine Tour IV Grand Prix with a double clear just over 1sec behind the winner.
Suffolk’s Tim Page (Santa Cruise) took 5th spot, with another double clear, while Scottish rider Douglas Duffin was the fastest four-faulter to finish 6th, riding Quidam BZ.
Kayleigh Watts, from Hertfordshire, landed the €2,000 Classic Tour Grand Prix with Robert Smith’s Rooney IV. The Brits featured highly in the placings, too, with Abbe Burchmore-Eames (Wilandri E) 2secs adrift as runner-up, and Sophie Ryan (Pacco Du Bourg) 4th.
Sunshine Tour Grand Prix 1.60m
- Zipper (S Alvarez Moya, ESP) 0,0,37.29secs
- Catwalk IV (R Whitaker, GBR) 0,0,38.37
- Fidux (E Alvarez Aznar, ESP) 0,0,40.35
- Vagabond De La Pomme (P Leprevost, FR) 0,0,40.74
- Santa Cruise (T Page, GBR) 0,0,43.48
- Quidam BZ (D Duffin, GBR) 0,4,41.27
Classic Tour Grand Prix
- Rooney IV (K Watts, GBR) 0,0,38.37secs
- Wilandri E (A Burchmore Eames, GBR) 0,0,40.50
- Benito (M Longem Valdar, NOR) 0,0,44.85
- Pacco Du Bourg (S Ryan, GBR) 0,0,45.58
- Perfect Rouge (EP Garson, RSA) 0,0,46
- Ananaz (A Frutuoso de Melo, POR) 0,0,48.32
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.