Brilliant British Victory for Holly Smith with Denverin the Olympic Qualifier Grand Prix held yesterday at The Autumn Tour, Montenmedio

Second place went to the German rider David Will with C Vier 2 and third place went to the Irish rider Denis Lynch with Cristello.

Holly Smith was absolutely delighted with her wonderful gelding Denver as they won the very hotly contested 1.50m Grand Prix, Tokyo Olympic Qualifier that finished off the Autumn Tour yesterday.  There were 18 horses through to the jump off  today, highlighting the sheer quality of riders and horses in the class.  The first round was very technical with interesting turns and distances throughout and proved to be challenging.  Of the 18 combinations jumping clear in the first round today, 5 were Irish, this really goes to show the pure class of the Irish showjumpers at this moment. 

The jump-off track was real challenge from the very first jump as the course twisted and turned with difficult lines and pace changes needed throughout.  With great support from the other riders and team members, Holly and Denver attacked the course from the word go and flew through the finish in 36.76s.  This took the lead and gave her the magnificent win pushing David Will from Germany down into second place.  David had ridden a stylishly fast round on C Vier 2 but stopped the clock in 37.00s just behind Holly’s winning time.  In the end, Irish riders took third, fourth, sixth and seventh places.  Denis Lynch with Cristelo was in the lead for a while and ended up in third place beating Mark Mc Auley with Jasco VD Bisschop into fourth.  French rider Olivier Robert slotted in to fifth place with Vivaldi des Meneaux and in sixth was Cameron Hanley with ESI Toulouse and seventh was  Conor Swail with Koss Van Heiste.

In a quick impromptu interview before the prize giving, Holly told us how happy she was to have won the class after what has been an extremely challenging year, she is looking forward to the Tokyo Olympics next year but is mainly focussing on keeping her horses happy and healthy with the help of her team and sponsors.  When asked if she will be back in the spring for the 2021 Sunshine Tour here in Dehesa Montenmedio, the answer was a resounding yes.

Press release