Daniel Deusser won Wednesday’s biggest class at the CHI Al Shaqab, riding Espyrante (Obourg x Pauillac De Meia Lua) to the top in the 1.50 five star class. Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet had to settle for runner-up position 0.76 behind Deusser, aboard Egano van het Slogenhof (Electro x Nagano). Sweden’s Henrik Von Eckermann ended third on For Sale 6 (For Pleasure x Cassini I), over two seconds behind the winning time produced by the world’s no. three.
“I am quite surprised I won this time,” Deusser said following his win. “My horse is fast and I was full of desire to be successful yet I was bearing in mind that Luciana Diniz was particularly fast and it would be very difficult to beat her. Yet everything worked out well for me this time.”
Deusser continued: “The facilities at CHI Al Shaqab are second to none. On top of that we’ve got perfect weather, time of the year, basically everything working to our advantage. It’s a real pleasure to take part in the competition here.”
The opening five star class went to France’s Simon Delestre on Stardust Quinhon (Calvaro x Cabdula du Tillard). In second came Britain’s Laura Renwick and Rembrandt Blue (Mr. Blue x Super de Bourriere), a mere 0.07 seconds behind. Third place went to Ireland’s Denis Lynch and Ho Go Van de Padenborre (Darco x Chin Chin).
“I am really pleased with my performance and victory at CHI Al Shaqab. It gives me confidence about going into the competition. It was a positive start for me and I hope it will continue like that,” Delestre commented.
Source: Press release from CHI Al Shaqab