Spanish Sergio Martin Palos made his debut international outside his home country in style winning two big tour classes at the 2015 CDI Biarritz on 9 - 11 October 2015. Martin Palos took the arena on his 10-year old Lusitano stallion Altaneiro to edge out a full field in the Grand Prix on 68.460%. The pair lifted its score to 71.196% in the Special for a second first.
“Biarritz was a wonderful competition and the weather could not have been better,” Sergio told Eurodressage. "As it was my first international competition with this horse outside of Spain we had a lot of expectations riding on it!”
Very happy with his competitive season so far this year, Sergio felt that he and Altaneiro (by Altivo out of Rehipica) were getting better and better with every show. As this is the horse's first year at Grand Prix level, he did not expect him to do so well so soon.
“It has been a very good surprise for all of us," Martin Palos admitted. "He has a super character and a very strong personality when ridden, and although he is breeding a lot he remains super cool with the other horses in competition."
Sergio believes that because Altaneiro has a lot of energy and is very willing to work, the stallion requires a very specific training program; one that includes a lot of hand walking and even riding more than one time per day.
“I’m at this moment training him in Salamanca at the Yeguada Arauzo stablesn," he said. "I have some other horses to compete next year that I also expect big things from! Romi, a 10-year old Danish Warmblood by Romanov, and Sultan a 5-year old Lusitano cross from the breeder Sergio Galan. These are two very talented future Grand Prix horses.”
Having just trained for a few months with Swiss rider Anton Walliser, Sergio hopes that for 2016 he can continue the good work with Altaneiro and even try to get onto the Spanish Team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
by Sarah Warne - Photos © Rui Pedro Godinho
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Scores 2015 CDI Biarritz
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