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The first week of the Spring MET II of Oliva Nova concludes with the victory of Frenchman Julien Epaillard<\/h2>\nThe first week of the Spring MET II of Oliva Nova concludes with the victory of Frenchman Julien Epaillard<\/h2>\nThe Spring MET 2018 continued this week with its second part of the Tour, the highlight being Sunday\u2019s 30,0000 Euro Stephex Group Grand Prix that saw Julien Epaillard (FRA) blaze to victory.<\/p>\n
Running until February 25th, Spring MET II 2018 has the honour to welcome some of the world\u2019s very best riders: Edwina Tops-Alexander (AUS), Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (BRA), Scott Brash (GBR), Nicola Philippaerts (BEL), Pius Schwizer (SUI), Lorenzo De Luca (ITA) and Alberto Zorzi (ITA) were just some of the big names lined up for today\u2019s Grand Prix held in the beautiful Oliva Nova grass ring under the February sun. It was another world-class rider that stole the show however, as Julien Epaillard on his home-bred Diamant de Semilly-son Safari d\u2019Auge outclassed his competitors with a lightning fast jump-off.<\/p>\n
59 horse-and-rider combinations lined up for the 1,45m Grand Prix counting for the Longines Ranking. The track was set by course designer Stefan Wirth (GER), and consisted of 13 obstacles and 16 efforts and was cleared by no less than 21 of the competing pairs.<\/p>\n
The large number of riders in the jump-off meant several risks needed to be taken, and half of them had to see one or more poles fall to the ground \u2013 but it also gave the audience a thrilling class to watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Grand Prix was nice and with several good riders. There were a lot of clears, but the course was fair and good. In the jump-off \u2013 against so many riders \u2013 I tried to do my best to be the fastest one without getting faults and today it worked out for me,\u201d a happy Epaillard said after his win.<\/p>\n
Hendrik Denutte (BEL) was the first one to clear the shortened course riding Don Flamenco Vd Kranenburg (Flamenco Desemilly x Kannan) in 39,88 seconds, and he held on to the lead for quite a while. It was not until start no. 14 \u2013 Thierry Rozier (FRA) with Venezia d\u2019Ecaussinnes (Kashmir van Schuttershof x Lys de Darmen) \u2013 that Denutte was overtaken. However, Rozier\u2019s lead was short-lived as Epaillard \u2013 winner of several Grand Prix classes in Oliva on previous occasions \u2013 was next to go, shaving off two seconds on Rozier\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSafari D Auge has been super this weekend. He won the ranking class the first day, but the second day I made a big mistake and got the last fence down. But the horse is in a really good form,\u201d Epaillard explained.<\/p>\n
One of the very last riders in the jump-off was Stephex Stables\u2019 Lorenzo De Luca (ITA) with De Flipper (Flipper d\u2019Elle x Emilion). De Luca did a great round with his new ride, and took over the second place pushing Rozier down to third. Constant van Paesschen (BEL) \u2013 another rider that has won a lot in Oliva before \u2013 finished fourth riding Veneur D Isigny (Diamant de Semilly x For Pleasure) while fifth place went to Aldrick Cheronnet (FRA) with Uris de La Roque (Capital x Quick Star).<\/p>\n
\u201cDe Flipper is a new horse for me, and it is a very good horse. Stephan (Conter) gave him to me the week before we went here, so the first two weeks I was playing a little bit around in the small classes and this was our first Grand Prix together. We started off quite well, and I hope for a good future with him,\u201d De Luca said after taking the runner-up position.<\/p>\n
Julien Epaillard, who has been coming to Oliva for several years praised the event: \u201cIt is super here! We have good weather, and everything is perfect for us to make a good job. The ground is perfect, the stabling is perfect and the organization tries its very best for the horses and riders. I really love to come here!\u201d<\/p>\n
Lorenzo De Luca also enjoys his time in the sun: \u201cFor me it is super here in Oliva. I have eight horses with me \u2013 seven young horses and then Armitage Boy \u2013 and all of them really enjoy it here. Just to be able to go to the beach and to have two super sand rings with great surface \u2013 probably the best surface there is \u2013 and then a really good grass ring. We are all happy to be here, and to give the horses some good experience. After our stay here in Oliva, we hope that our horses are ready for the summer season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photo credit \u00a9 Herv\u00e9 Bonnaud \/ www.1clicphoto.com. These photos may be used only in relation to this press release and must include photo credit.<\/p>\n
The Mediterranean Equestrian Tour II will last until February 25 and will deliver a total of 426,700 euros in prizes. During these three weeks of competition, 267 riders and amazons from 36 countries and about 1,000 horses are scheduled to participate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-met-2018-en-fr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25373,"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25365\/revisions\/25373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metoliva.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}