"This horse is fantastic," Vereecke said about Lector vd Bisschop after their win in the CSI4* Grand Prix at Sentower Park. "This was his first four-star win." Photo © Nanna Nieminen for World of Showjumping.
Text © World of Showjumping
Koen Vereecke (BEL) and Lector vd Bisschop (Bamako de Muze x For Pleasure) took a home win in Saturday's CSI4* 1.55m Grand Prix powered by Bonne Chance Farm at Sentower Park in Belgium.
50 horse-and-rider combinations had qualified for Saturday's Grand Prix, where 12 pairs cleared the first-round track and joined the deciding jump-off. As last to go, Koen Vereecke and the 11-year-old stallion Lector vd Bisschop stopped the clock on 38.16 seconds, taking home the win and pushing Alexander Zetterman (SWE) on Triton Hästak (Cabachon x Winningmood) down to the runner-up position – with only 0.06 separating the two riders.
"This horse is fantastic," Vereecke smiled after his victory. "This was his first four-star win. It is really good to have a show of this level here at Sentower Park, we need the four-star shows to get our horses up the levels; from four to five-star the difference is not so big anymore. You improve as a rider when there is good competition and good riders. We had quite good riders here this weekend, and a nice course builders. They built really well throughout the weekend, I think the horses learned a lot. For today's course, I first thought that there would be too many clears, but in the end we had 12, which is perfect for a Grand Prix like this."
The Swedes were showing great form, with Wilma Hellström placing third behind Vereecke and Zetterman. Photo © Nanna Nieminen for WoSJ.
The Swedes were showing great form, with Wilma Hellström on Cicci Bjn (Ci Ci Senjor Ask x Tornesch) placing third behind Vereecke and Zetterman. Andreas Schou (DEN) on Darc de Lux (Darco x Contender) took the fourth place, while fifth went to Jens Vandenberk (BEL) on Faldiano (Heartbreaker x Jus de Pomme).
Saturday morning's CSI4* 1.45m Prijs Ashford Farm went to Julien Epaillard (FRA) on Carbone du Cyan (Diamant de Semilly x Caretano Z). Clocking a time of 35.61 in the jump-off, the French took the win ahead of Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (BRA) on Heureuse Nouvelle WH (Cardento x Indoctro) in second, Andres Vereecke (BEL) on In The Mood (Winningmood x Calypso III) in third, Henrik von Eckermann (SWE) on Calizi (Cellestial x Stakkatol) in fourth and Titouan Schumacher (FRA) on Carera des Brimbelles (Kannan x Henaud) in fifth.
Then