Text © World of Showjumping

Belgium's Koen Vereecke and the 12-year-old stallion Lector vd Bisschop (Bamako de Muze x For Pleasure) won Friday's CSIO5* 1.60m Longines Grand Prix in Sopot, Poland. 

With a double clear and a time of 49.04 in the second round, Vereecke and Lector vd Bisschop bested a field of 49 horse-and-rider-combinations. With the second double clear result of the day, Germany's Gerrit Nieberg and the 11-year-old Blues d'Aveline (Baloussini x Coriall) took the runner-up position in 50.03. 

"When we walked the course, it did not look too difficult, but in the end there were only five clears [in round one]," Vereecke told World of Showjumping after his victory. "There was a difficult line in the beginning, with a triple combination, which caused a lot of faults and in the end we were only five clears – and then there were some more faults [in round two]." 

"Lector has been winning a lot, he has been in great shape in the last few weeks," Vereecke said. "He won at three- and four-star shows last year as well, and last week in Kessel we had one down in the three-star Grand Prix. Today, he did not want to make a fault, he was super! This was his first five-star Grand Prix win and it will be his first five-star Nations Cup on Sunday."

With two time faults from round one added to one time penalty from round two, Argentina's Mariano Ossa and the 11-year-old Elton van het Exelhof Z (Elvis ter Putte x Cassicor) placed third, while a score of four from round one and a clear in round two left Switzerland's Elian Baumann and Little Lumpi E (Lordanos x Polydor) fourth ahead of his compatriot Bryan Balsiger (SUI) and Chelsea Z (Chellano Alpha Z x Cicero Z) in fifth.