Source: Edited News Release

Tonight's two part class at the Athina Onassis International Horse Show in Rio was a glowing tribute to mares as they filled the top four places in a fourteen horse jump off.

The C was a two round class so the top 20% scoring riders went through to the second round against the clock where all of them started on zero. There was another 125,000 in total prize money and this class was open to both the national riders as well as the GCT ones, so sixty horses started in the first round.

The second phase was diminished by one when Ellen Whitaker was taken ill and could not jump off. Phillip Weishaupt started the ball rolling on dark bay Sovenir 29 and the pair set an excellent standard of 40.95. It did not appear that he had left much room for maneuver, but Billy Twomey riding another mare, Tinka's Serenade, was first to get past the German combination by just two tenths of a second.

Then Roger Yves Bost, in next on his young mare Nifrane de Kreisker left out a stride coming to the last and clipped a second off the Irishman's time. Again, Bost's time was looking unbeatable but never say never when the last to jump is Marcus Ehning. Riding his mare Sabrina, sired by Sandro Boy, he pulled off a daring turn to the second last which had the desired effect. His time of 39.63 was enough to give him another win on a mare who has rarely been unplaced this season.