On Sunday 14 july, the sun returned to Falsterbo, and in the afternoon the stands were packed with spectators eager to witness the absolute world elite compete in the prestigious Agria Falsterbo Grand Prix. Germany’s Cross Country expert Sandra Auffarth emerged victorious with Quirici H.
The course for the day was designed by an experienced team of course designers: Spaniards Santiago Varela and Elena Boix, alongside Swedes Fredrik Malm and Frida Andersson. In the first round the team asked the riders to tackle 13 obstacles with 16 jumps and a maximum time of 82 seconds, which proved challenging.
After the first round, only Pius Schwizer (Switzerland), Kristaps Neretnieks (Latvia), Sandra Auffarth (Germany), and Cian O’Connor (Ireland) managed to deliver clear rounds. With 42 competitors participating, this meant that 11 riders would advance to the Winning Round. Seven additional pairs, including Belgium’s Abdel Saïd, who incurred a time fault, joined the clear rounds in the battle for victory.
In an exciting Winning Round, both time and faults proved decisive, and favorites fell one by one. Finally, Sandra Auffarth from Germany, riding Quirici H, clinched the victory, surprising even herself with the win:
– I thought it would be a round to gain experience at this height, and then he jumped super and was super focused! Sandra commented after her win. The horse exceeded her expectation and at the Press Conference she admitted she had no idea how difficult the time would be, nor how fast other riders had been.
With her Grand Prix win, Sandra, a former eventing rider with multiple championship medals, managed to beat some of the world’s best show jumpers; and perhaps it was her her cross country experience that played a role in managing the time throughout the competition, from the initial round to the Winning Round, where she even outpaced the Irish rider Cian O’Connor by over a second.
Final Results Agria Falsterbo Grand Prix:
- Sandra Auffarth, GER – Quirici H 0-0/52.56
- Cian O’Connor, IRL – Fancy de Kergane 0-0/53.62
- Abdel Saïd, BEL – Figueras de Laume 1-1/62.36
For full results, visit: https://online.equipe.com/startlists/978963