Equestrian Philippines Inc., the country’s leading promoter and sponsor of show jumping and dressage initiatives both here and abroad presented to the Philippine Sports Commission its accomplishments for the 2019-2020 season.
In a courtesy call to the PSC, EquestrianPH president Carissa Coscolluela and vice president Toni Leviste, accompanied by the country’s up and coming team of rising equestrian stars, Minxie Romualdez, Alex Ynares-Villalon, Nicole Camcam, and Paola Lorenzo, touted unprecedented achievements for the equestrian community in the sort time that EquestrianPH has taken initiatives to revitalize the sport.
They were received by PSC Chairman William Ramirez, and commissioners Charley Raymond Maxey, Arnold Agustin, and Celia Kiram.
Among the stellar accomplishments were the gold medal finish of the young team at both legs of Riders Tour, a borrowed horse competition pitting a team from the Philippines against several teams from Malaysia.
The inaugural competition was staged in Manila in September last year, and the second event was held in in Kuala Lumpur last December. The team was composed of Romualdez, Ynares-Villalon, Camcam, Lorenzo, Lara Zobel, and Mohamed el Akkad.
The senior team of Leviste, Joker Arroyo, and Colin Syquia, sponsored by EquestrianPH, saw an astonishing silver medal finish at the Federation Equestre Internationale Asian Championships held in Pattaya in December of last year, at the same time that the Southeast Asian Games were happening in Manila, absent the staging of equestrian events for logistics reasons.
Locally, EquestrianPH also launched a remarkable championship series, the likes of which have not been mounted in the country in over a decade.
The series was composed of three legs of jumping competitions held at the Manila Polo Club, with riders accumulating points per leg towards an overall championship title and category championship titles.
The overall champion for the series was the talented and stylish and Lorenzo aboard Rubis Landais, whom she rode to the 1.20m category title, the highest level of the season. Zobel on her new mount Lander van Bijsterveld and the hardworking Camcam on Aralea T shared the podium in the 1.10m category, while Camcam also took top honors in the 1.00m category on Con Amber. Manila-based Egyptian expat El Akkad was the runaway champion in the 0.90m category; Ynares-Villalon on Un Chti du Banney, cool under pressure, took the 0.75m category; and Romualdez, in a season-ender show of class, was champion in 0.65m category about Magic Mio.
As 2020 opens, EquestrianPH launches a second championship series, composed again of three legs of jumping competitions. There will also be a dressage competition at the end of the season.