Daniel Neilson & Major Delacour. ph: 1clicphoto.com
The 2017 Autumn Mediterranean Equestrian Tour concluded on Sunday, November 12, with the €30,000 Grand Prix, presented by Oliva Nova Beach and Golf Resort, in Olivia Nova, Spain. Great Britain’s Daniel Neilson and the nine-year-old MIPAAF gelding Major Delacour (Ksar-Sitte x Leopard) took home top honors in the class that saw 56 entries.
Austria’s Franz Madli designed the 1.45m course that featured 13 obstacles. Of the original horse and rider combinations, 14 returned for the jump off to compete for the lump sum of the winner’s purse and valuable points towards the Longines Ranking.
Great Britain secured the top five spots, with Neilson leading the field with a winning time of 47.03s.
“He’s got a really big stride, and [there were] a lot of long runs in the course which suited him,” Neilson explained. “He was very good to me [at] the double verticals. I turned really short there and he tried really, really hard.”
“Major Delacour is nine-years-old, but still really green and he’s just getting better and better all the time. I have had him for about 18 months, and we started really small when he was an eight-year-old with the 1.30m classes,” commented Neilson. “We actually came here for the Spring MET this year – then only jumping the 1.35m and 1.40m classes. He has a lot of quality, and has improved all the time since then – I think he is one for the five-star level.”
Lance Whitehouse finished 2nd on the 15-year-old KWPN gelding Vik II (Cantos x Unknown) with a time of 47.31s. Amy Inglis and the nine-year-old AES mare Wishes (Guidam x Wellington) followed suit for a 3rd place finish, stopping the clock at 47.38s.
The Mediterranean Equestrian Tour now takes a break, and returns in January next year for the Spring-edition.
The full results can be here.