Olivier Philippaerts secured himself the last CSI5* win in La Coruna, when he took home Sunday’s Trofeo Caixabank. The 1.50 class with a winning round saw eleven riders, all clear, moving on to chase the clock – a task that the young Belgian rider mastered the best together with H&M Challenge V. Begijnakker (Chellano Z x Palestro V. Begijnakker).

As first to go in the winning round, Olivier put up the pace from the beginning. His turns came as quickly as he landed, and the tightness in them definitely saved precious time. On the last stretch, Philippaerts kept on moving – not once pulling up towards the final upright and when he crossed the finish line the clock had stopped at 51.71 seconds. It would take a very fast round to beat it.

The pressure was on those to come, and they must have all felt it. The second clear came three riders later, courtesy of Maikel van der Vleuten on VDL Groep Verdi T.N. N.O.P. (Quidam de Revel x Landgraf I) but the Dutch rider was way behind on 55.17 seconds. The following three riders all went a bit too wild, and poles fell for all of them including the winner of Friday’s feature class Julien Epaillard who again had the fastest time. 

Jerome Guery came very close in his attempt to catch his compatriot. Whistled on to the final fence by the crowds, Guery was speeding up – and this time the pole stayed in the cups. Although Jerome was fast, he was not fast enough and he slotted into second with Papillon Z (Perhaps x Cassini I) in a time of 52.57. Lucy Davis also gave it a go, but the last upright fell to the ground and the American rider went down on the result list. Luca Moneta on the other hand had more luck, and took the third place aboard as last to go on Connery (Cordobes II x Polydor) to seconds behind Philippaerts.

Earlier in the day, the 1.45 Trofeo Prosegur was won by Great Britain's Laura Renwick on Heliodor Hybris (Diamant De Semilly x Cannonball).

Text © World of Showjumping // Picture © Oxer Sport.