Manuel Gonzalez Dufrane (MEX) has been a part of winning Nations Cup teams for his home nation of Mexico. He’s been to the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Finals, and last summer he competed in his first Olympic Games. Saturday in front of a home crowd at Quintas Ecuestres in east-central Mexico, the 27-year-old notched another first in topping the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Puebla with his longtime partner, Hortensia van de Leeuwerk (Corland x Argentinus).
Marina Azevedo (BRA) set a stiff track for a compact yet accomplished field. Halfway through the class, only Miguel Angel Torres Hernandez (MEX) aboard Chacendra (Chacco-Blue x Dobel’s Cento) had produced a clear effort. Just two would replicate their feat: Jose Alberto Martinez Vazquez (MEX) and Gonzalez Dufrane.
First to return for the shortened course, Torres Hernandez put the pressure on his competitors with another clear effort, but Martinez Vazquez quickly upped the ante, shaving nearly four seconds off of his time with Quinley (Quintero x Calato), a horse he has produced for nine years. That left Gonzalez Dufrane no option but to take some risks in order to take home a victory. A tight left turn back to the double set him apart as he continued to gallop across the venue’s breathtaking grass field.
Gonzalez Dufrane and the 15-year-old Hortensia van de Leeuwerk have been partnered for nearly seven years, breaking onto the scene when clinching a win for Mexico as team anchors in the 2019 Longines…
