HARRY CHARLES, FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, WON THE CAIXABANK TROPHY

Excitement until the end in the CaixaBank Trophy, a 1'50 meters round of the CSI5*-W in A Coruña, which was a qualifier for the Longines FEI World Cup Grand Prix on Sunday. Of the 44 riders who started the test, 28 were already qualified, so 12 places were reserved. The Spanish riders were all guaranteed their participation, except for Jesús Bamonde. The Galician rider did not achieve his goal, as he committed a fault with "AGR Trouble Maker". The classification was difficult, since of those who were not classified, 13 finished without faults, so one of the clears had to stay away.

The French riders, who had taken the first two places in the previous round, were also leading the CaixaBank Trophy. Julien Epaillard was leading the table with "Cancun Torel Z", a mare that has been in the French rider's stable for a very short time, winning four of the last six rounds she has competed in. Her time of 56'03 looked impossible to beat. At that moment, another French rider was in second place: Julien Anquetin with "Blood Diamond du Pont", with 56'42 seconds.

Just when it looked as if the French triumph was sentenced, the young Harry Charles, leader of the FEI U-25 ranking for the last 23 months, came out ready to win the event with "Billabong du Roumois", the son of "Mylord Carthago" with whom he had won this event in 2022 and who, curiously, had previously competed with Julien Epaillard.

The British rider and his chestnut stopped the clock in 55`64 seconds, a record that allowed them to win for the second consecutive year. The public, which from early afternoon filled the stands of the Casas Novas Equestrian Center, rewarded the British rider with a long ovation as he received his trophy from the hands of Juan Pedro Badiola, regional director of the Casas Novas area.
the trophy from the hands of Juan Pedro Badiola, territorial director of the northern area of CaixaBank. In 2022 he had won after improving the record of Henrik von Eckermann and a year later he has done it leaving Julien Epaillard at the gates of victory.