The competition, which took place on the final day of the inaugural X-Bionic Sphere Indoor Masters CSI4*, was held at the X-Bionic Sphere Olympic Training Center in Šamorín, Slovakia.
Italy’s Uliano Vezzani set the tone with a 13-obstacle-course that saw six combinations return to the jump off. Zanotelli and the ten-year-old KWPN mare (Mr. Blue and Chin Chin) topped the leaderboard with a winning time of 37.54s.
“I’m very happy, I mean winning the Grand Prix [at a] show like this is the absolute,” commented Zanotelli. “[X-Bionic Sphere] is one of the best places in the world, not only the indoor but the outdoor as well.”
We were here during the summer and we had everything [needed to] do our best in the ring; fences are good, ground is perfect, the stables are fantastic. Everybody is happy, which makes the show a lot nicer.”
The Netherlands’ Harrie Smolders piloted the 13-year-old KWPN gelding Zinius (Nabab de Reve x Kannan) to a 2nd place time of 38.77s. The duo had a 1st place finish in Friday’s 1.50m single round speed class, sponsored by Coca Cola.
Brazil closed out the podium placings, Joao Victor Castro and the 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding Quentin PJ (Quidam de Revel x Escudo 19) crossing the timers in 40.15s for 3rd.
The full results can be viewed here.