Constant van Paesschen and Diamanthina van T Ruytershof won the 1.55 class in Rotterdam Thursday. Archive photo (c) Jenny Abrahamsson.
Constant van Paesschen won the 1.55 opening class in Rotterdam Thursday riding Diamanthina van T Ruytershof (Diamant de Semilly x Carthago). 57 riders were entered for the class and out of them 29 riders were clear, but a few picked up time penalties. The riders on top were fast though with Joe Clee taking an early lead aboard Vedet de Muze (Cartani x Heartbreaker). From start 22 Henrik von Eckermann and Crespo Pkz (by Cornet Obolensky) slotted in over a second behind Clee and kept their second place until van Paesschen came as start 47. As the Belgian rider crossed the finish line the clock stopped 1.36 seconds ahead of Clee’s time pushing the British rider down to second place. Henk van der Pol gave it a good go at start 49, but not even the fast Dutch rider was able to touch the top three and ended fourth with Willink ( Twister x Landsieger).