Brilliant finish of CSI3* Maeza, with Luca Maria Moneta winning the Grand Prix 2023

The facilities of Yeguada Finca Maeza hosted a large audience that came hoping to see a good sporting spectacle on the closing day of the CSI3*. And the Maeza Grand Prix did not disappoint them. On the opposite, the race maintained the typical tension of the Grand Prix courses of its 50 participants and increased in intensity in a jump-off in which the six classified riders were looking for the victory from the first to the last obstacle.

And the last obstacle was decisive, the vertical one of Maeza, because the last participant in the jump-off, the rider from San Sebastian, Jesús Garmendia, knocked down in it when he had the victory within his reach with "Callias". They were the only pair that went under 40 seconds, but the arrival at the last obstacle after a long and intense ride, was not the best one, and the downfall that deprived the Spanish rider of the victory took place.

In the barrage, the fastest clear was Luca Maria Moneta, Italian rider living in France, who made up for the inexperience of his mare, "Jolie Coeur d'Avril", with his experience in high competition. His 40'50 seconds gave him the victory ahead of Eduardo Álvarez Aznar, who used 41'45 with "Enjoy de la Mure", who jumped brilliantly, but lacked more rhythm to beat the Italian.

In third place was another Spanish rider, José Bono, who has confirmed in Maeza the good expectations generated around his bull "Alí Babá HT". The pair from Hípica de Toledo used 41'87 seconds in their ride.

The Portuguese Duarte Seabra, fourth with "Dourados 2" (43'39) and the Spanish Carolina Aresu with a powerful "Domperignon" (44'00) also made zero in the jump-off.

The director of Yeguada Finca Maeza, Cruz Maestre, was in charge of presenting the trophy to the winner of the Grand Prix, Luca María Moneta, closing the event, the day and the competition, the Banda de Gaites Llariegu with the chords of the anthem of Asturias.

At the end of the competition, Luca María Moneta described the Grand Prix as "very delicate, very technical, but not very big. For me it was lucky, because my mare doesn't have much experience, she had never ridden in a race of this category, but she has a good feeling with me and we got along well". Moneta emphasized that "Maeza's facilities are wonderful, here the nature is magnificent, the temperature for the horse is great and the people are very open".