Sharjah: Michael Pender and HHS Los Angeles victorious in Friday's most important jumping competition
Sophie Hinners victorious in Sharjah
from Dominique Wehrmann 
A 1.50 meter jumping competition against the clock was required to qualify for the Grand Prix at five-star level. With the twelve-year-old Irish mare HHS Los Angeles, Ireland’s Michael Pender not only managed a clean round, but also the fastest round in 64.2 seconds. This secured them victory.
The Le Roi daughter is already more experienced at this level. Last year, she was Pender’s horse of choice in the Global Champions Tour. With her, Michael Pender also came second with the Irish team in the League of Nations final, i.e. the Nations Cup final in Barcelona.
Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann and the 13-year-old Cellestial daughter Calizi came closest to the time. In the end, however, they were more than three tenths of a second off the winning pair’s time, taking second place.
After that, the time gaps widened. Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi and Chacco Bay made it onto the podium for the host nation, the United Arab Emirates. The horse is very familiar to the winner of the show jumping competition, as Michael Pender was in the saddle on the Oldenburg stallion before Al Marzooqi took over the horse at the beginning of 2024. The now twelve-year-old son by Chaccato and his 22-year-old rider have already started the year with top results. Two weeks ago, they won a three-star Grand Prix over 1.55 meters.
Sophie Hinners best German
Sophie Hinners rode the eleven-year-old gelding Event de l’Heribus to a clear round in 71.04 seconds. This time was worth eighth place. With her second horse, Kaleni Jo, Hinners had to accept one fault.
Maximilian Lill also made it into the money with Casallco’s George PS thanks to zero faults in a time of 75.04 seconds.
David Will and Xixo Borgia came out of the course with eight points, as did Yassin Alzbibi and Malibu M.
Hinners and Will first and second in the two-phase jumping competition
Later in the evening, the Vogel & Will Equestrian GmbH team led by David Will, Richard Vogel and Sophie Hinners had further successes to report in Sharjah. The 1.45 meter two-phase jumping competition was won by Sophie Hinners with Come Away Flamingo Z in a clear 26.87 seconds. Closest on her heels was her team colleague David Will. In the saddle on Oak Grove’s Big Blue, however, he was beaten in the end with a time of 27.03 seconds.
René Tebbel wins the two-star jumping competition
There was a tournament comeback from a German perspective in Sharjah. After almost a year, René Tebbel, who competes for the Ukraine, made his first appearance in the results list of an international competition. And with a first place straight away. In the saddle on Conquida de Revel PS, he beat off the competition in a 1.40 meter jumping competition. The now twelve-year-old Conthargos daughter had already competed at shows with Tebbel in the saddle in 2022. Most recently, she was mainly presented at shows by Chad Fellows (GBR) and Vladimir Tuganov (PLE).
