Giampiero Garofalo Races to Victory in CSIYH1* Young Horse Final 1.30/1.35m Class

The Young Horses rode their finals on Sunday morning. Twenty combinations stayed clear in the first round of the CSIYH1* Young Horse Final 1.30/1.35m class, of which nine were six-year-olds and eleven were seven-year-olds.

Michael Pender rode a fast clear round with six-year-old HHS Flonix (ISH, Aganix du Seigneur x Clover Echo) and stopped the clock at 40.52 seconds. That proved a time difficult to beat and ultimately good for third place. 

Teddy van de Rijt, who had qualified for the jump-off with two six-year-olds, had the best result with If I Can La Meije. Her time of 40.77 seconds was good for fourth place. 

Then the obstacles were then raised by 5 cm and it was the turn of the seven-year-olds. Belgium's Yenthe Schrijvers and Australia's Annabel Francis rode a nice and smooth jump-off but fell a little short of speed. 

Italian Giampiero Garofalo went through the course like a rocket, leaving all the poles up and crossing the finish on 39.77 seconds. This put him in the lead with the seven-year-old Zangersheide gelding Clarimo van de Dijkhoeve Z (Comilfo Plus Z x Polydor). In the end it turned out to be the winning time.
The Italian rider was happy with the result. “My horse jumped really well. In the first round he already felt really nice. I started at the end of the jump-off and had my plan ready. I didn't know my horse could be so fast, so I was a bit surprised, but I'm very happy with how he jumped.”

Dutch rider Sanne Thijssen made another serious bid for victory but had to settle for second place. She stopped the time at 40.40 seconds with the seven-year-old gelding Monfaut Gumo MP (Comme Il Faut x Numero Uno).