Edwina Alexander and Isovlas Pialotta After winning the Grand Prix at the CSI 5-Star at Valkenswaard Photograph:Dirk Caremans

Australia’s Edwina Alexander has beaten many of the world most successful jumping riders to claim the CSI 5-Star Valkenswaard VDL Groep Grand Prix in the Netherlands.  Edwina rode Isovlas Pialotta into first place after an exciting jump off with Katarina Offel from the Ukraine.

Edwina and Katarina were the only two riders to jump without faults in the first two rounds.  Both riders jumped clear in the jump off.  Edwina sealed the victory with a time of 37.93 sec, over two seconds faster than Katarina. 

This is the biggest win that any Australian Jumping rider has achieved in recent years in International Jumping competition.  Edwina and the other owners of Isovlas Pialotta earn over AUD80,000 for the win.

Edwina has been based in Europe for many years and trains with her Dutch partner Jan Tops.  Edwina jointly owns Isovlas Pialotta with Cees van Opstal and Stal Tops. 

No doubt this combination will be aiming towards the World Equestrian Games to be held in Aachen, Germany next year.

The complete results can be found at www.csivalkenswaard.com

 

SPECIAL NOTICE

After her terrific Grand Prix win at the Valkenswaard CSI 5-Star,
Edwina Alexander was interviewed on ABC Grand Stand (Sydney 702, etc)
To download a sound file (398KB) of the interview, right-click (save target as) here.
You do need dsslite to play the file (a wav file would be 7MB). Download and install dsslite (858KB).