Kristaps Neretnieks (LAT) earned both first and second place honours in Thursday's CSIO5* 1.50m Longines Grand Prix qualifier at The President of the UAE Showjumping Cup in Abu Dhabi. 

Fourteen out of the fourty horse-and-rider combinations in the class moved on to the jump-off, where Neretnieks posted the fastest clear with the 9-year-old Palladium KJV (Lancer III x Cornet Obolensky) when stopping the clock at 34.71 seconds. With his second mount Quintair (Quintero x Con Air), Neretnieks crossed the finish line in 34.97 – taking not only the win, but the runner-up spot too. With a time of 35.22 seconds, the third place went to David Will (GER) and Zaccorado Blue (VDL Zirocco Blue x Acorado), who was followed by Donald Whitaker (GBR) on Little Khira H (Böckmann’s Lord Pezi x Kolibri) in fourth and Ioli Mytilineou (GRE) in fifth aboard Levis de Muze (Elvis Ter Putte x Tinka’s Boy). 

Earlier in the day, Emanuele Gaudiano (ITA) won the CSIO5* 1.45m UAE Equestrian Federation Speed Stakes with Julius.D (Arezzo VDL x Gelha's VDL Emilion). With a time of 59.18 seconds, Gaudiano left Shane Breen (IRL) and Z7 Ipswich (Carembar de Muze x Quick Star) behind him – with 0.68 seconds separating the two riders. The third place went to Nicola Pohl (GER) and Arlo de Blondel (Tlaloc M x Kassidi) who stopped the clock on 60.19 seconds.