The second leg of the IPPOS SPRING TOUR 2024 in Thessaloniki started with rainy weather on Thursday 16 May. First six categories opened the horse show jumping week that will peak with the Grand Prix on Sunday. The victory of main Class (CSI2* Class 2 – 140cm) of the day went to Greek Alexandros Fourlis with the gelding Idefix del Laghetto.
Three categories for the young horses had to fight with very wet conditions on Thursday morning. Romanian Ionut Ursache with mare J´adore Le Lux managed to show a clean and fast ride to take the win in the CSIYH1* Class 1a for the 5-year-old horses on 110cm obstacles. The 6-year-old horses’ category Class 1b on 125cm went also to Romania when Damian Cojocariu showed the best run with stallion Cashmere Blue. The Greek Dimitri Natsis continued the winning stream with the 7-year-old mare Corrie Z and defended the title from the last week on the 1.30m obstacles in the Class 1c.
The main competition of the day 1 was the CSI2* Class 2 – 140cm welcoming 16 horses on the start. In challenging conditions, the Greek Alexandros Fourlis with his gelding Idefix del Laghetto, the Balkan champion from 2023 (born 2012), showed the best ride to take the main trophy of the day. The experienced Greek rider managed to win also Class 3 with his Cinnamon one week ago. Second place went to Bulgaria thanks to Ivaylo Bonev and his stallion Lot of Special.
“I like all my horses. I had seven last week and this week I have six of them. We try to produce good young horses and I am in a lucky position that they are all doing well. This place is fantastic so I would like to congratulate Anna (Papageorgiou), her family and Draško (Dokič) for doing a super job. For me, this is very good opportunity to bring a lot of horses to develop. This place is a great contribution to our region and it is going to help a lot in development of our sport. It is definitely step in the right direction. I will try my best to come back in October,” said silver Bonev, who still plans a few bigger shows in Athens and Budapest this year.
Bronze position belonged to Romanian Constantin Popescu and a gelding Hero. The title defender from last week Hachiko with Roberto Previtali had to settle for the 5th position in the morning.
The second CSI 2* – Class 3 – 130cm competition in Thessaloniki welcomed 35 riders when the fastest clean run came from the 34-year-old Romanian Daniel Bucur with the grey mare Jaretina BH.
“I did not expect the win but it is like that – one day you win, one day you lose, but it is the same for everyone. We had to play the same game,” said satisfied Bucur.
“We only arrived for the second week of the Ippos Spring Tour because we also go for the competition in Athens after this. I find everything here exceptional. The organizers are doing a very good job and are very kind to us. The facility is super great and you have everything to create a super show. I ride only three horses here but I brought six of them. This horse Jaretina is not very young, but she started late and that is why we jumped only on 1.30. She is very good so let´s see. I hope she will become my second Grand Prix horse in the future,” added the Romanian rider, who comes from the horse riding family. “One of my dreams would be to have such facilities also at home,” added Bucur.
The title defender from last week Alexandros Fourlis with his gelding Cinnamon took silver position. Bronze medal went also to a Greek rider when Athanasia-Maria Kyriakopoulou came third with the stallion Pellegrino van ´T Edelweishof.
The last event bringing the CSI1* – Class 4 with 115cm obstacles welcomed large field of 55 competitors starting in two rounds. Anna Irene Goset of Cyprus managed to repeat the victory from the last week with her mare Cindy.
The competition will continue on Friday and during weekend with next categories culminating with the LR Grand Prix on Sunday. For more information about the event and the detailed competition schedule for the four-day periods 16-19 May visit the https://ipposclub.com/.
