Gregory Wathelet took his fifth international victory for 2016 when he went to the top in Friday’s CSI5*-W Longines Grand Prix in Zürich. It might have been one of many wins, but it was the first on Gregory’s relatively new partner Citizenguard Taalex (Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve x Alexis Z) that he got the ride on at the end of last year after the 12-year-old stallion had been campaigned by his compatriot Constant van Paesschen.
At their sixth international show together, the two hit the right note to go out on top in the featuring class at the opening night in Zürich. Leaving fifteen other combinations behind him in the jump-off, the Belgian rider again showed his precision against the clock.
With 1.54 seconds down to runner-up Denis Lynch from Ireland, aboard All Star 5 (Argentinus x Alme), it was a convincing win for Wathelet who recorded 33.000 CH and more world ranking points in Zürich.
In third came home rider Martin Fuchs on Clooney (Cornet Obolensky x Ferragamo), 0.12 seconds behind Lynch while Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann finished fourth and Netherland’s Harrie Smolders fifth.
Text © World of Showjumping // Picture © katjastuppia.ch/mercedes-csi.ch