Australia's Edwina Alexander scooped maximum points at the eleventh leg of the 2009/2010 Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping series in Vigo, Spain on Saturday night with a brilliant performance from Cevo Socrates.
In the 11-horse jump-off the 15 year old gelding showed the wisdom of his years when producing a classy, clean and confident round that was simply too good for the rest. And this latest result has rocketed Alexander up to fourth place on the series table with just two more qualifying legs remaining.
 Australia's Edwina Alexander receives her Rolex watch as winner of the 11th leg of the 2009/2010 Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping series in Vigo, Spain. © Kit Houghton. |
But Edwina also used her head last night. "I woke up at 7 o'clock this morning and turned on YouTube to watch my round with Socrates in Zurich Grand Prix where we won two years ago. He's very different from my other horse Itot, and I don't always find him so easy to ride, but it reminded me just what I needed to do - and I think it worked!" said the delighted rider. Runner-up was Switzerland's Beat Mandli, winner of the third leg at Lyon in France last November, while, after four previous attempts, Belgium's Judy-Ann Melchior picked up her first points of the season when third with the bay mare Cha Cha Z.
"The last few World Cups were not good for me" the winner said afterwards, as she praised her 15 year old winning ride.
"Socrates has had a great career but he's been out for eight months and this was his first show back so I didn't know what to expect. He won the Zurich Grand Prix in 2008, and the Gothenburg Grand Prix in 2009 and was also third in Valkenswaard - he's is an incredible horse, not a championship ride but incredibly clever and brave - I'm really thrilled with him tonight!" she said, aware that she is more than comfortably qualified for the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping final in Geneva in April.
The next leg of the 2009/2010 Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping series will take place at Gothenburg, Sweden from 25-28 February.
The stats
33 starters
11 into jump-off
5 riders from both Spain and Germany started in the first round
Pilar Cordon was the only Spanish rider to qualify for the jump-off
Riders from a total of 15 nations took part in the competition
The oldest horse in this leg of the series was the 16 year old Aboyeur, ridden by Italy's Gianni Govoni.
The youngest horses were the two 9 year old geldings, Cabreado ridden by Germany's Daniel Deuser and Napoli du Ry ridden by Simon Delestre for France.
There was one elimination in the first round - Spain's Sergio Alvarez Moya with What's Next.
Two riders retired in round one - The Netherlands' Leopold Van Asten (VDL Groep Santana) and French rider Julien Epaillard (Kanthaka de Petra).
The youngest rider in the competition was 17-year-old Manuel Anon Suarez from Spain riding Fantasia.
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