Jérôme Guery and Careca LS Elite finish Spring MET II 2024 with a win in the CSI3* 1.50m CHG Grand Prix
The third and last week of Spring MET II 2024 at Centro Ecuestre Oliva Nova in Spain came to an end with a Belgian victory in Sunday’s CSI3* 1.50m Grand Prix presented by CHG – Constucciones Hispano Germanas S.A.
Eight horse-and-rider-combinations out of the 52 participants cleared the first-round track set by the Swiss course designer Gerard Lachat and joined the deciding jump-off, where Belgium’s Jérôme Guery and Careca LS Elite (Carusso LS La Silla x Rebozo La Silla) were the fastest, stopping the clock on 35.56 seconds – taking the win ahead of Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (BRA) and Heureuse Nouvelle WH (Cardento 933 x Indoctro) who had to settle for second with their time of 35.71.
“Like every show here, the last Grand Prix of the week is always a little bit bigger,” Guery commented afterwards. “It was a serious class and we had a few very good horses and riders in it. The course was technical and delicate, it was really a class for the riders; we had to ride properly, the triple was really delicate, the time was tight but not too short. It was a nice class and we can see that in the eight clear rounds; that is a good number.”
“I bought him at the end of last year,” Guery said about his ride, the 13-year-old Careca. “The plan was to come to Oliva to try and make a connection with him. In the beginning, it was not so simple; I am a different type of rider than his previous one and we had a few misunderstandings. However, last week I felt like we started to become a couple and I feel like we had a click together. I’m really, really happy because he was amazing today, and he was really with me. Marlon was really, really fast and I was not sure that I could beat him, but I tried and my horse listened to me perfectly.”
“For me, Oliva is for the moment the best place in Europe to produce horses,” Guery – who is a familiar face at Centro Ecuestre Oliva Nova – said about the venue. “That’s why I’m coming here every year at the beginning of the year. I come here with the new horses and young horses, to produce them for the season. It’s the perfect place to try and understand new horses and find a connection with them; you have different arenas and a nice facility. I also have Quel Homme with me, for him Oliva is a super place to recover and to restart slowly. And, you can go to the beach! I really like to start my season in Oliva.”
Harry Charles (GBR) and Balou du Reventon (Cornet Obolensky x Continue) took the third place after clocking a time of 36.47 seconds, while Joseph Clayton (GBR) and Commissaire S (Comme Il Faut x Polydor) finished fourth in 37.20 and Philip Houston (GER) aboard Sandros S Bella (Sandro Boy x Chacco-Blue) fifth in 38.01.
Spring MET 2024 continues with the third edition on March 5, which runs until March 24 and is followed by Spring MET IV in April.
Click here for full results.
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