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For the Portuguese dressage riders, Vejer de la Frontera is only a stone's throw away and, therefore, they sent a whole delegation to the Sunshine Tour. In the big tour Miguel Ralao Duarte, Daniel and Carlos Pinto, Andre Parade and Nuno Vicente
took a firm stand against their Spanish neighbours and proved their worth in all three legs of the big tour.
Especially Carlos Pinto and Miguel Ralao Duarte were able to make a fist in the large field of Grand Prix competitors. Aboard the 11-year old Lusitano stallion Notavel Puy du Fou, Pinto had a fantastic weekend. In the Grand Prix he finished sixth with 65.333% and in the Special he moved up the ranks to a satisfying third place with 65.720%.
Notavel, who is owned by Vincent Guilloteau of the Puy du Fou Mediaeval theme park in Les Epesses, France, is a very talented dressage horse with ground covering extensions and an elevated piaffe-passage.
In the Special the horse looked a bit sour in the test, but he put down a solid performance that can definitely be brushed up with some more show routine.
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In the Grand Prix, Duarte placed 10th (64.542%), in the Special he ranked 8th (63.240%) and in the Kur he was 9th with 63.726%
"The Portuguese performed surprisingly well," Mariette Withages commented after the Grand Prix. "All of a sudden they have shown their face on the scene and created the possibility of qualifying a team for the 2005 European Championships in Moscow."
Text and Photos copyrighted Astrid Appels/Eurodressage - No reproduction allowed without permission
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