Don’t Count The Spanish Out
They’ve been quiet this year, but they took the silver medal at last year’s European Championships after gaining the bronze medal at the 2002 World Equestrian Games, so the other contenders better watch for them, writes Birgit Popp.

“I guess there’s a chance we will stand on the podium again,” said Spanish team coach Jean Bemelmans about his squad’s prospects to win their first Olympic team medal.

And, indeed, their chances look substantial. After three times gaining an unrewarding fourth place in the European Championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001, their breakthrough came with the team bronze medal and the individual silver medal for Beatriz Ferrer-Salat at the 2002 World Equestrian Games at home in Jerez de la Frontera.

Some said they only got those medals because of a home-field advantage, but they proved it was no fluke by stepping up to the silver medal in last year’s European Championships at Hickstead (England), where Ferrer-Salat took the individual bronze. And this year’s riders are basically the same squad that’s represented Spain since 1995: Ferrer-Salat will ride Beauvalais, Rafael Soto will ride Invasor, and Juan Antonio Jimenez will ride Guizo. The only change is that Ignacio Rambla will either ride new mount Oleaje or Eduardo Mellado will ride Hortelano.

Ferrer-Salat bought Beauvalais from German Olympian Heike Kemmer in the beginning of 2000, and in the 2001-’02 FEI World Cup season, they won three qualifiers to top the Western European League before finishing third in the final. But Beauvalais was a bit the problem child in the beginning of this year. Because of a slight hoof problem, he hasn’t yet performed in any outdoor show in 2004. But, at Muenster (Germany) in mid-January he won the Grand Prix Special and was runner-up in the Grand Prix. In the CDI-W Amsterdam (the Netherlands) at the end of January he was runner-up in the Grand Prix (72.95%) and in the freestyle (77.15%).

Said Bemelmans, “I am very confident that Beauvalais will show the performance at Athens as we are used to from him. He is very fit in training, and we could have competed him before, but we did not want to take any risk.” Bemelmans said Beauvalais was scheduled to contest one show as a warm-up for Athens.

Invasor, who finished sixth at the 2002 WEG and ninth at the 2003 Europeans, also had a long break over the winter months. After the national championships at Jerez in November, where the gray stallion and his rider, an instructor of the Real Escuela Andaluza de Arte Ecuestre, claimed second behind Beauvalais, he had a break until the CDI Wiesbaden (Germany) in late May. In the Grand Prix, only the German Olympic candidates Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff and Renoir-UNICEF bested them. But they celebrated an outstandingly rhythmic and expressive freestyle test, scoring 77.70 percent to claim the victory in front of a fervent crowd of nearly 10,000 spectators. They scored even higher at Fritzens (Austria) in late June, finishing second in the Grand Prix (73.29%) and winning the freestyle (78.16%).

Soto and Invasor regularly score above 70 percent, but Jimenez and Guizo have made a tremendous improvement to reach that level. “They are the positive surprise for me of this season,” confirmed Bemelmans after Fritzens. At Fritzens they won the Grand Prix (73.33%) and grabbed third in the Special (71.68%). They made their Olympic debut in 2000 and then finished in 22nd place at the 2002 WEG.

Bemelmans was waiting to choose the fourth team member after the CDIO Aachen. Rambla, like Soto an instructor at the Real Escuela, has been a member of the Spanish team since its first appearance in the 1995 European Championships, riding first Evento and then Granadero, who was retired after the 2002 WEG. Rambla then rode Distinguido, a son of Evento, in the 2003 European Championships, helping his team to the silver medal and missing the individual final just by one place. But Distinguido was hurt last winter, so Rambla will be riding another stallion from the Escuela, Oleaje.

Oleaje is a black gem with the best basic paces a Pura Raza Espanola horse has had so far on the Spanish team. “He is the best horse I have ever ridden. He is so sensitive to the aids and so eager to learn and has a wonderful character,” said Rambla.

But Oleaje is very inexperienced. It was only during the Spanish Sunshine Tour in February and March that Bemelmans began to consider him as a team contender. Vejer de la Frontera was his first Grand Prix in his first international show, but with another rider from the Escuela. Bemelmans then began training the black stallion at home in Germany, and he and Rambla competed together for the first time at the CDI Olfen (Germany) in April. Since then, they’ve done Saumur (France), Wiesbaden and Fritzens, where they achieved their highest Grand Prix score (67.29%).

Mellado and Hortelano, members of the 2001 European Championship team, have been earning similar scores. In 2001 the stallion was just 8, still crying like a baby for the other horses while in the ring, and Mellado was still a student at the Escuela. Today he runs his own dressage barn, and Hortelano has matured. At Fritzens they achieved 10th place with a 66.29 percent and an excellent sixth place in the freestyle (73.22%).

Team Members

Beauvalais: b. g., 17, German-bred Hanoverian by Bolero xx–Grand mare.
Beatriz Ferrer-Salat: age 38, Barcelona.

Invasor: gr. s., 15, Spanish-bred Pura Raza Espanola (PRE) by Panadero VII–Valeroso VI mare.
Rafael Soto: age 46, Jerez de la Frontera.

Guizo: b. s., 16, Portuguese-bred Lusitano by Zasebande–Tivoli mare.
Juan Antonio Jimenez: age 45, Madrid.

Oleaje: blk. s., 10, Spanish-bred Pura Raza Espanola (PRE) by Izarro.
Ignacio Ramblas: age 40, Jerez de la Frontera.

Hortelano: gr. s., 11, Spanish-bred Pura Raza Espanola (PRE) by Vespasiano.
Eduardo Mellado