A Gentle Start in El Jadida
The final weekend of the Morocco Royal Tour got underway this Thursday on the indoor arena of El Jadida, with Dutch course designer Louis Konickx in charge this week. As is often the case on opening day, these “warm-ups” in showjumping are like free practice sessions in Formula 1: warm-up laps, yes, but where performance can also matter. While the main goal is for the horses to find their stride in a new environment, there is never any rule against aiming for victory. And it was a Moroccan rider who set the tone from the very start, with Youssef Salmeron taking the opening win, followed by Frenchman Jérémy Le Roy in the second class – his fourth victory on the 2025 Tour.
Salmeron Strikes First
In the first CSI1* competition, the Aïn Saïss Prize, with fifty-eight starters, Konickx built a flowing course where the main challenges came from adapting to this unique setting. Experienced horses and riders had a small advantage here – and it was precisely such a profile that delivered the first victory in El Jadida.
After closing the Rabat leg with a win on Quadina de Muze (and a fifth place in the Grand Prix), Youssef Salmeron once again showed his consistency. Still partnered with the daughter of Mosito van het Hellehof, he kicked off his weekend with another success. Going early in the order, the 51-year-old “junior” stopped the clock at 57.66 seconds – a benchmark none of the 29 other clear rounds could approach within even a second.
Jérémy Le Roy Unstoppable
The CSI4*-W pairs then got their first feel of the El Jadida arena in the Maison de l’Artisan Prize, a Two-Phase class at 1.40m with 67 entries. Here too, some riders treated it as a schooling round, others went all out for the result. Among them was France’s Jérémy Le Roy, already a triple winner on the 2025 Tour – twice in Tétouan and once in Rabat’s CSI1* Grand Prix. This time he added a fourth victory to his impressive tally, confirming his status as one of the revelations of this edition.
PRIX AIN SAISS
CSI1* – 1.25m – Faults & Time / Barème A Chrono
- Youssef Salmeron, MAR – Quadina de Muze 0/57.66
- Tarik Chouchi, MAR – S-Meralda Bph 0/58.99
- Rayane El Ouarzazi, MAR – Carousa 2 0/59.21
- Ahmed Eyad Bazi, MAR – Enrique HL 0/59.62
- Abdelmoghit Adnas, MAR – Shakaponk du Fleuve Z 0/60.16
PRIX MAISON DE L’ARTISAN
CSI4*-W – 1.40m – Special Two-Phase
- Jeremy Le Roy, FRA – Falkira de Mormoulins 0-0/22.98
- Marek Lewicki, POL – Quaid Casio 0-0/23.07
- Emanuele Gaudiano, ITA – Chalou 0-0/23.26
- Alix Ragot, FRA – Gold Sky de Pegase 0-0/24.02
- Leon Thijssen, NED – Chio Z 0-0/24.10,