Madrid, Spain – March 26, 2015 – G&C Farm, owned by Venezuela’s Gustavo and Carolina Mirabal, had a great winter competing at the Sunshine Tour in Spain to begin their 2015 season. With their home base at Añon Family Stables in Madrid, the horses and riders excelled. Luis Miguel Martinez showed G&C Farm’s young horses with great results, Gustavo Mirabal earned five victories on his mounts, Carolina Mirabal returned to the show ring with superstar G&C Leroy 136, and the team made an exciting new addition in rider Sergio Alvarez Moya (ESP).
Gustavo Arroyo continues to work with G&C Farm as a trainer while he is sidelined with an injury. Since Arroyo has been out of the saddle, the Mirabal Family invited Moya to pilot his mounts for the winter. Moya took over the reins on G&C Quitador Rochelais and G&C Jartrum at the Sunshine Tour with great results.
Moya and G&C Quitador Rochelais won the Grand Prix Tour 1.50m at the end of February and also finished sixth out of 57 in the Invitational Grand Prix – the biggest class of the tour – in March.
Gustavo Mirabal with Sergio Alvarez Moya and G&C Quitador Rochelais
“Gustavo Arroyo had a fall, and he will still be out a couple more months,” Mirabal explained. “We thought that the best thing for Quitador was to be ridden at the Sunshine Tour by a top rider so that he could stay in shape, and he was for sale. I talked to Sergio to see if he was interested. From the beginning, he was very enthusiastic and we started working together. He was a very good match with Quitador from the start, and in the first FEI class he rode him, he won! A lot of people made good offers to buy the horse after that. Sergio and I had a conversation and decided, ‘Why sell Quitador when he could ride him at Grand Prix and I was so enjoying it?’ We talked to Gustavo Arroyo, because his main idea was to sell the horse and he owned 50%. Sergio and I bought it, so now we are partners on the horse with G&C Farm owning 75% and Sergio owning 25%.”
“I think Sergio is a top rider,” Mirabal stated. “He has been in the top for a long time, and with a good group of horses, he will be at the top of the sport. I like that he always goes for the class; he is a winner and I like that. I am looking to enjoy this partnership. We are a good match, and we have become good friends. For me, that is the most important thing. The winning will come, I am pretty sure of that. For now, Sergio will ride Quitador at the Global Champions Tour and other horse shows where Carolina and I are riding, so we will enjoy to ride and see our horse at the Grand Prix.”
Moya will continue to ride Quitador as well as G&C Kay LS and G&C Fredo LS, while Mirabal will take over the ride on Jartrum along with his top mounts G&C Lucy, G&C Sicilia, and G&C Qairwan du Thot. Arroyo and Luis Miguel Martinez will continue to help with the training at G&C Farm.
Gustavo Mirabal and G&C Qairwan du Thot
In addition to Moya’s great winter with Quitador, Gustavo Mirabal had fantastic results with his mounts throughout the circuit, earning five victories and multiple other top placings. G&C Lucy and G&C Qairwan du Thot shared in the winning rounds in the 1.10m division. Mirabal also had consistent results with G&C Sicilia in the 1.20m.
After taking time off from riding to welcome son Gustavo Ernesto to the world, Carolina Mirabal returned to the show ring with G&C Leroy 136 this winter as well. She concluded the Sunshine Tour with third and fourth place ribbons in the 1.10m.
Martinez showed seven-year-old G&C Don Vito and six-year-old G&C Clemenza to many clear rounds and great results in the young jumper classes. G&C Farm is excited for the future with these rising stars.
Along with great results in Spain, the Mirabals proudly watched Venezuela’s Luis Fernando Larrazabal have success with G&C Close Up at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL. The pair earned multiple top ten ribbons in the circuit’s competitive 1.45m FEI world-ranking classes as well as eighth place ribbons in the FEI 1.50m jumper classic and CSIO Welcome Stake.
Luis Fernando Larrazabal and G&C Close Up. Photo copyright Mancini Photos.
The team at G&C Farm looks forward to continuing the 2015 season, showing across Europe. They will compete in Madrid, La Baule, Saint Tropez, Cannes, Monaco, London, Paris, Chantilly, Arezzo, San Giovanni, the Stephex Masters in Belgium, Morocco, Madrid Horse Week, the Gucci Paris Masters, and La Coruña.
For more information on G&C Farm, please visit their website at www.gandcfarm.com, like their page on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.
G&C Farm brings exceptional horses and top jumper riders to the highest levels of competition. Their state-of-the-art, full-service facility is located in Madrid, Spain. The vision of G&C Farm is to improve the instruction and training of their top jumper riders and horses in order to seek a place at all high level tournaments and top competitions.