Thursday night’s 1.50 qualifier for the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Antwerp, concluded with a thrilling jump-off between 21 riders clear from the first round. It was the last line of course designer Luc Musette’s jump-off course which proved to be decisive, and Brazil’s Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and Zerlin M (Berlin x Concorde) came out on top. The distance down to the last caused a few problems, with the last fence particularly significant to the final standings.
France’s Pénélope Leprevost and Sultane des Ibis (Quidam de Revel x Elan de la Cour*HN) took an early lead before being caught by Marlon, although Kent Farrington with the impressive grey, Willow (Guidam x Little Rock), posed a significant threat later on, just missing out by two hundredths of a second. Last to go was Belgium’s Olivier Philippaerts, who was eager to win in front of a vibrant home crowd, but he could only do enough to finish third with Aragorn van Schuttershof (Quintero x Cento).