Ambassador Z and Cuba Libre de Nevada Z shine on the GP podium in Rabat

Last weekend Morocco hosted the four-star Rabat competition, part of the three-week Morocco Royal Tour. One of the highlights of the weekend was the CSIO4* Grand Prix on Friday afternoon, in which two Zangersheide horses were in the spotlight by securing a podium place.

One of those Zangersheide horses was the 10-year-old gelding Ambassador Z, a son of our chestnut stallion Aganix du Seigneur Z and Illustro bred by Jos Lansink and Jack Van Mierlo. Under the saddle of French rider Ines Joly, the number 2 in our Z-ranking already managed to jump into the spotlight last summer with an impressive victory at the LGCT Grand Prix of Monaco and so last weekend the duo once again ensured a top result.

After a clear first round, Joly and Ambassador Z were among the best 18 combinations to qualify for the decisive second round. There they managed to repeat that flawless performance from the first round and with a finishing time of 43.75 seconds they secured 2nd place.

But we saw a second Zangersheide horse on the podium during this CSIO4* GP, and that was provided by Belgian rider Marine Scauflaire with the 10-year-old gelding Cuba Libre de Nevada Z, a son of Charlekijn Van T&L and Thunder van de Zuuthoeve from the breeding farm of Karel Van Damme. Scauflaire and Cuba Libre de Nevada Z were also unerring in both rounds and their finishing time of 46.06 seconds resulted in a great 3rd place.

Also in the top 5 of the rankings we saw Scauflaire's compatriot Thomas de Wit and his home-bred gelding Tools DW Z, a 13-year-old son of Toulon and Cicero Z. After a clear second round, De Wit and Tools DW Z clocked off in 47.28 seconds, which was good for a creditable ^5th place.

Before the CSIO4* Grand Prix started, there was also a 1.40m class within the CSIO4* competition, in which we also saw two Zangersheide horses in prizes. There was a ^6th place for Danish rider Rikke Belinda Barker with the 8-year-old stallion Empire SBK Z (Elvis Ter Putte x Quintero Z - B: Kristof Bijloos) and an ^8th place for Thomas De Wit, this time with the 9-year-old stallion Ecuador DW Z (El Torreo de Muze x Quasimdo van de Molendreef - B: DW Stables).