Urquiza, Escobar, Trapala, Valverde, Ortiz Win FEI Titles at 2024 Mexican Dressage Championships

Shows

2024 Mexican Dressage Championships

Children rider Mercedes Urquiza, junior rider Emma Escobar, young rider Isabel Trapala, small tour rider Esteban Valverde, and big tour rider Santiago Ortiz claimed the FEI Titles at 2024 Mexican Dressage Championships.

The Nationals were held in Val’quirico on 6 - 7 December 2024.

Youth Divisions

The youth divisions were still rather small with three children, one junior and two young riders competing. The 13-year old children rider Mercedes Urquiza Pardo piloted the 9-year old Mexican bred Gitano (no pedigree listed with FEI) to the title after scoring 69.400% and 69.935%. She edged out Raymunda Sanchez Nieto on Altanero (68.850 - 70.227%) and Carol Benavides on Imposible (65.475% - 69.570%).

Emma Escobar and Havano (no pedigree know) won the gold medal as sole competitor in the class. She scored 62.010% and 63.970% The two juniors who competed at the CDI Lerma earlier in the year (Beatriz Gomez Sanchez Navarro and Santiago Luciano Campos Garcia) did not show up for these Nationals

At Young Riders level Isabel Trapala Portilla and the 13-year old Danish warmblood Amazing Boy (by Don Romantic x Michellino) topped the board in her age category after scoring 64.362% and 65.441%. Her horse was previously shown by Emma Kanerva for her former sponsor Gert Saborowski. The horse was originally named Amazing Billy Boy FS. Sebastian Mendez and the 10-year old Lusitano Jinete (no pedigree listed with FEI) were good for silver after posting 63.186% and 64.510%.

Small Tour

At small tour level there were two Championships: one at Prix St Georges level and one incorporating the Intermediaire I freestyle test. The Prix St Georges champion was Spaniard Antonio Maldonado Marron aboard Group Trusot Sport's TS Vizcaya (no pedigree known) who scored 67.157 and 68.186 to ace the division.

The small tour champion was Costa Rican Esteban Quiros Valverde aboard the grey PRE bred Nazari DC. He bested a field of nine combinations after scoring 69.020% and 69.167%. He edged out Antonio Maldonado on Group Trusot Sport's bay TS Scarto (horse not listed in the FEI database, but Scarto is the spitting image of Cesar Parra's now 13-year old Hanoverian Sir Beckmann (by Sir Donnerhall x Wolkenstein II) which sold to Mexico). Maldonado and "Scarto" scored 67.794% and 69.265%. The bronze went to Anthony Alberto Araya Vega on the grey Lusitano Nuncio DC (by Quinteiro da Broa out of Favorita da Broa).

Big Tour

The big tour championship at Grand Prix level featured six riders with seven horses. Last year's silver and bronze podium place-getters Enrique Palacio and Enrique Pina were absent from the 2024 Nationals.

Santiago Ortiz renewed his title for the fourth, consecutive year. Aboard Adan Benavides Jones' 13-year old Lusitano Gentil (by Altivo x Pagode) he scored 66.558% in the Grand Prix and 72.633% in the Kur to Music for the gold medal. Ortiz rode this perlino stallion at the 2023 Pan American Games but has not competed him internationally since then. After the Championships owner Benavides decided to find a new rider for Gentil. Ortiz was also the sole competitor in the medium tour championships which he automatically won aboard the 8-year old Lusitano Medieval SS (by Altivo), owned by Viviana Kolvek. They scored 63.137% and 69.058%.

The silver medal went to Spaniard Carlos Nieto Benavides on the curiously named TS I, a name given to a tall bay horse who is listed in the FEI database as a 12-year old chestnut KWPN without pedigree. TS I seems to be Spaniard’s Alfonso Gormaz Torcal’s 11-year bay KWPN I (by El Capone x Jetset D). Nieto, who took over riding the "TS" horses for Mexican owner Eduardo Trujillo Uribe of Grupo Trusot Sport from fellow Spaniard Raul Marti Perez, scored 64.457% in the Grand Prix and 70.350% in the Kur to Music to finish second overall. Nieto and TS I made their international show debut last May in Lerma but got disqualified after TS I tested positive for a controlled medication. The rider accepted the FEI's administrative sanction, the FEI told Eurodressage.

The bronze medal went to celebrated PRE horse breeder Lorena Morales on the 16-year old PRE stallion Orgulloso MOR (by Amoroso XLII). In 2022 the pair won the Mexican Championships in a special Big tour division in which the Grand Prix was ridden twice. This year she ended up with bronze after scoring 61.485% in the Grand Prix and 68.875% in the Special.

The other big tour competitors were Lourdes Ariza on Secreto (4th) and Sir Cedrik (5th), Jose Padilla Liekens on Twan van Plexat (6th) and Maria Jose Hernandez on Blickpunkt (7th).