ALKHOBAR: Monaco show jumper Inigo Lopez De La Osa Franco has wrapped up a month on the Arab circuit, riding in the Morocco Royal Tour in Tetouan and El Jadida before competing at the first Longines Global Champions Tour event in Cairo.
The 23-year-old, who rode at the World Championship in Aachen this year, joined a field of the world’s best riders as the region continues to raise its standing in the sport. While the Morocco Royal Tour saw its 15th edition take place in October, this marked the first time its final leg — the King Mohammed VI Grand Prix in El Jadida — was elevated to the prestigious CSI5*-W five-star level, the sport’s top tier.
Speaking to Arab News, De La Osa said the tour was his first time competing in Morocco with his horses, and he had high praise for the organizers. “The facilities were unbelievable,” he said. “I have to say the Royal Moroccan Federation did an unbelievable job. Being able to bring a five-star to the Morocco Royal Tour this year is actually a big success.”
His week in El Jadida took an unexpected turn when his first horse, Nascar Van ‘t Siamshof, was not in the best shape on the opening day. On Friday night, he and his team decided to move Desiree E Z, a mare he has ridden for several years, up into the bigger classes.
“I was trying to protect her, trying to do the right classes for her,” he said. “(I) never expected that she would be doing what she would be doing.”
The gamble paid off for De La Osa. “She actually outperformed herself. She was unbelievable,” he said.
Desiree E Z finished 15th in Saturday’s 1.55m class, prompting the rider and his team to enter her in Sunday’s 1.60m World Cup Grand Prix, the final event of the Morocco Royal Tour. “The third day we said: ‘Why not jump the Grand Prix? Let’s try the Grand Prix.’”
The mare finished 30th of 44 starters after the last two fences came down, which De La Osa put down to his own mistake.
“She was flying over the fences. With a small rider misunderstanding, we had the last two down. Otherwise, she would have gone easily clear in the Grand Prix,” he said. “It was a very stupid mistake and she deserved the clear. She was really giving herself 200 percent. I couldn’t be more proud.”
De La Osa’s rise to the top level has been an unusual one. While he was born and raised in Monaco to an Italian mother and a Spanish father, he rode for Spain at the youth level before a move to Belgium at 17 coincided with an offer to represent Monaco.
“I took that opportunity because I think for my sport, for my career, that might be the best thing to do,” he said. “I still believe today (it) was the best option … It helped me to focus a bit more on myself and to grow more as a person, as a rider.”
That decision placed him in a unique standing in the sport. He is the first Monegasque male rider to reach show jumping’s top level, and has ridden for the Monaco Aces as the team’s Under-25 rider in the Global Champions League.
The mix of cultures that have shaped his upbringing still runs through his everyday life on the circuit.
“I speak many languages. I come from many people, from many places,” he told Arab News. “Especially now with the sport, it’s not that I have one home — I’m always on the trip, always with the show.”
Asked what turned a childhood hobby into a profession, De La Osa pointed to a drive that never switches off. “You always want more in the end. You always want to achieve more, want to be better,” he said. “I’m very lucky. My job is my passion.”
He hopes that drive will take him to another world championship within the next three to four years. But one goal sits above the rest, and it is less than two years away.
“I really hope (to be) at the Olympics,” he said. “I really hope to be in LA.”