Edited press release from Hickstead Press Office

At the CSIO5* Longines Royal International Horse Show, Olivier Philippaerts (BEL) took the top honours in this morning’s 1.50m Royal International Salver, riding the 10-year-old H&M Miro (Diamant de Semilly x Kannan). 

Philippaerts, the son of four-time Olympian Ludo Philippaerts, came out on top after a 15-strong jump-off. “I jumped him yesterday in the Nations Cup and he was a bit too fresh for my feeling,” says Olivier, whose family is based in Oudsbergen, Belgium. “I’m not jumping him tomorrow, so I thought I’d jump him again today and actually, I had him like I wanted to have him yesterday, so it’s good to know for the next few shows. I’m very happy with him, and it looks like he likes this ring a lot.”

At just 10 years old, H&M Miro has already proven an exceptional partner for Olivier, winning a CSI5* Grand Prix and logging success in the Global Champions League. 

“I got him about a year ago to ride, and I bought him a couple of months ago. He’s a horse with a lot of blood and a lot of power, and so it took me a while to get the control right. But jumping wise, I think he’s exceptionally good, and that’s why I took my time with him. Now, I think it’s coming to the point where the control is starting to go well and I think he’s going to jump some really big Grands Prix in the future.”

Oliver’s winning jump-off round saw him finish over 2.5 seconds ahead of second-placed Samuel Hutton (GBR) and Bonne Amie (AD A Big Boy x Landfriese I). His late draw meant that he was able to use the intel coming from the main arena to help shape his plan of action: “I just watched the first ones go, and I knew exactly the numbers of strides I could do between the jumps. Actually, I wanted to do one less stride to the combination, but I didn’t see it and so I got one more there than I’d planned. But for the rest, I couldn’t go much quicker – so the plan actually worked out quite well. It was a big advantage to go near the end, for sure. I never let him go – he always wants to go to the jump, and he locks on and he goes.”

Third place went to Shane Breen (IRL) and Cuick Star Kervec (Quick Starx  Diamant de Semilly), who finished three seconds behind the winners. Joao Victor Castro (BRA) and Coco Chanel (Congress 4 x Conterno-Grande) finished fourth, and Koen Vereecke (BEL) fifth with Lector vd Bisschop (Bamako de Muze x For Pleasure).