Belgium's Pieter Devos and the 9-year-old Jarina J (Cicero Z x Harley) took Saturday's biggest win at the 2023-edition of CHIO Rotterdam, topping the CSIO5* 1.50m Championship of Rotterdam Maison van den Boer Prize.

In a jump-off between 14 horse-and-rider-combinations, Devos and Jarina J were the quickest, taking the win with a time of 32.40 seconds ahead of runners-up Pim Mulder (NED) and Memphis Z (Mylord Carthago x Candillo) in 33.27.

"My father-in-law found Jarina J and we bought her when she was seven," Devos told World of Showjumping after his win. "My wife rode her up to two-star level and then I took over the reins in April. It went very quick with her; she already won two ranking classes as well as the two-star Grand Prix in Lummen. Then I took her to Rome for her first five-star show, and last week to Stockholm, and now she really starts to be confident at this level. She is super careful, and very sensitive, so I did not think that she would progress so quickly. Therefore, I am very happy; not because of the win but because of how she has developed over the last few weeks. I think she will be a horse for the future for me." 

"I know she is very quick, but this was the first time I rode a jump-off with her on this level," Devos continued. "I just did my own thing; I did what I could. I thought the double would be delicate, so I took some risk there. Afterwards, the others tried to catch my time and they all ended up having faults on that tricky double. To be honest, when I came out of the ring, I did not think I would win, I thought I would be somewhere in the top four. I don't know her so well yet, so I am really happy." 

Harrie Smolders (NED) and Deesse de Kerglenn (Mylord Carthago x Crusader) placed third in 33.40, while Ebba Danielsson (SWE) and Nikita vd Vosberg (Echo van'T Spielveld x Clinton) finished fourth in 35.21 and Soren Moeller Rohde (DEN) fifth in 35.82 aboard Action Man Ask Z (Action-Breaker x Calvados Z).