Leopold van Asten (NED) and the 9-year-old VDL Groep Kiara (Clearway x Papillon Rouge) took the top honours in Saturday's CSI4* 1.50m at the Longines Tops International Arena in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands – the second Grand Prix qualifier of the weekend, that also counted for the Longines Ranking Group C.

Stopping the clock on 72.06 seconds in this competition judged as a Table A against the clock, van Asten and the home-bred Kiara took the win ahead of their compatriot Kim Emmen (NED) and Island VG (VDL Zirocco Blue x Indoctro) in second in 74.05. Third place went to Abdel Said (BEL) and Calvaro (Cascadello x Quidam de Revel) who clocked a time of 74.73, followed by Giampiero Garofalo (ITA) and Gaspahr (Berlin x Otangelo) in fourth in 75.45. Kevin Jochems (NED) and Camilla van de Helle (Crumble x Casall) completed the top five with a time of 76.07 seconds. 

"My feeling was top," van Asten said in a press release from Longines Tops International Arena. "Yesterday she jumped a 1.40m class which was very pleasant and she surprised me actually with how fast she is. I know that she is a naturally fast horse. She felt great and jumped amazing. I won’t take her for the Grand Prix tomorrow because I want to build her up slowly. But the fact that she did this so easily makes me happy and tells me that she can jump a 3* Grand Prix soon.”