British riders hold their own in Sunshine Tour

Although the Spanish dressage riders dominated the top placings in the big tour of the Spanish Sunshine Tour, British riders were prominent at small tour level.

The grand prix and special went to the experienced campaigners Rafael Soto Andrade and Invasor, who scored well into the 70s in both classes.Lizze Murray and Catherston Humbug achieved the best British placing, gaining eight place and just over 65% in both tests.

Holland’s Ellen Bontje headed the intermediaire I and prix st georges with the promising stallion Rubioso N, by Rubinstein. Ellen took on the nine-year-old Oldenburg at the end of 1999, who belongs to the same stud as her Olympic team silver medallist, Silvano N.

Britain’s Emma Hindle and Lillemarkens Arkibald scored more than 69% to take the runner-up slot in the intermediaire I, followed by another British rider Angie Rutherford with Kartouche.

Angie was also third in the prix st georges, behind by Astrid Lutzow with Armani. Emma Hindle (Lillemarkens Arkibald) and Sarah Millis (Ludo II) were also in the prize money in this class, taking sixth and seventh places respectively.

Sarah Millis featured in the amateur classes with the eight-year-old Dutch-bred Korenbloem Lothar, finishing third with 70.67%in one.