TIPPERARY’S Thomas Ryan peaked at just the right time with the 10-year-old gelding Jezebeau BC, owned by H3k Equestrian, to win the four-star Gold Tour 1.55m Grand Prix at Arezzo in Italy on Sunday. There were 50 on the start list of the feature class, with all but three registering faults in the first round.

Those three fault-free combinations jumped off to decide their podium positions, with Ryan going clear again in an unbeatable time of 39.86 to win the class, almost four seconds ahead of Germany’s Patrick Stühlmeyer on Polonis L (43.79), while third placed Giacomo Bassi (ITA) on Cash du Pratel recorded the fastest time of 37.69, but incurred four faults.

“I’m extremely proud of my horse today,” said Ryan afterwards. “It was his first four-star Grand Prix and also first 1.55m [class]. He’s a horse we’ve had big thoughts for, for the future, and he’s really pleasing us at the moment and we’re delighted with that.”

In the ribbons

Tuesday, March 25th saw the Toscano Tour 2025 get underway at Arezzo in Italy, with Ireland’s Alexander Butler riding Maceo du Chapitre into sixth place in the seven-year-old 1.30m Special two-phase class.

The seven-year-old 1.35m jump-off class on Wednesday saw Thomas Ryan place ninth on Sultan de Muze.

There was a very large start list of 98 for Thursday’s Gold Tour 1.45m two-phase GP qualifier, with Susan Fitzpatrick finishing in the top 10, when placing ninth on Lovely Stassi PS, while in the Gold Tour 1.40m class, Jack Ryan on Monbeg Ruby placed 10th.

Both riders featured in the 88-starter Silver Tour 1.35m two-phase class, where Fitzpatrick finished on the podium with Hector de Kezeg in third, with Ryan on Cornascriebe Emerald (ISH) in sixth.

Jack Ryan then placed fourth in Friday’s Silver Tour 1.40m final qualifier on Calgrafi Dwb, with Geoff Curran on DHF Alliance (ISH) in ninth. The start list of 98 was divided in two and saw Curran and his mount placing fifth in his division, while Jack Ryan was runner-up in his, with Thomas Ryan on Cordento finishing eighth.

Thomas Ryan and Connoisseur PWR placed seventh in the Gold Tour 1.50m GP qualifier, which saw 96 starters.

The Silver Tour 1.35m speed class saw the huge start list of 105 spilt in two, with Fitzpatrick taking the overall runner-up position with Hector de Kezeg, while Jack Ryan slotted into fifth with Cornascriebe Emerald. Ryan had placed third in his division of 53, while Fitzpatrick won her division of 52. Thomas Ryan and Silverstone placed 10th in the Silver Tour 1.30m two-phase class.

Saturday’s Silver Tour 1.40m special two-phase saw Jack Ryan and Cornascriebe Emerald finish as runners-up with a phase two time of 33.31, just 0.3 seconds behind Italian winner Giuseppe Carrabotta on Meraviglia Del Castello (33.01).

The 81-starter Gold Tour 1.45m Grand Prix qualifier saw Butler place seventh with Espoir d’Esbart.