Edited press release from EEF

Eight rounds jumped and eight clears produced gave The Netherlands a decisive win in the second of the two CSIO3* 1.50m Longines EEF Series semi-finals, held in Budapest, Hungary, on Friday. 

Friday's competition was the qualifier for the Central and South regions with five places up for grabs for the final in Warsaw. Germany finished in second place on just one time penalty with Hungary in third, Austria in fourth, Italy in fifth and Slovakia in sixth. 

Eleven teams turned out for the competition but the Dutch team consisting of younger and more senior members – both in terms of riders and their horses – were untouchable. 34-year-old Ruben Romp was riding his experienced horse ESI Toulouse (SIEC Livello x Quasimodo van de Molendreef) whilst 24-year-old Lars Kersten was riding the talented nine year old Chuck Marienshof Z (Colestus x Emerald). The rookie of the team was 22-year-old Mans Thijssen riding the 10-year-old Joviality (Warrant x Silverstone) while the most senior of the team was 41-year-old Henk Frederiks aboard Impian D (VDL Bubalu x Lux Z). All four riders delivered double clears, a feat which has not yet been seen in this year’s Longines EEF Series. 

Dutch chef d’equipe Vincent Voorn summed up what their performance meant: “I think we had a very good team, with very good riders and some young horses and some more experienced so I think it was a good combination. This is what we come for, to qualify for the final. We start the season with trying to develop new combinations and of course the aim in Warsaw. If you have a bad day, you don’t know who will qualify even if you've had good pre-qualification. So yes, Warsaw was the aim and luckily we can go there now, the last two years were not super successful so I hope we can change that.”

Frederiks was thrilled with the Dutch performance around a challenging course and gave praise to his horse Impian D. “Impian won already five Nations Cups, he's a great horse, really a horse of a lifetime. A couple of years ago I wasn't doing so much international, and because of Impian, I’m getting everywhere." 

Kersten was equally delighted with his young horse: “My horse is only nine and I think for these younger horses the Longines EEF Series is very good to develop them and jump in Nations Cup with two rounds. I’ve been lucky enough to jump three now this year with this horse and I think it's really good for the horse to develop."

Budapest was the second semi-final for qualified teams. The first semi-final for North and West regions took place in Deauville on 21st June. The ten teams qualified for the final are: Austria, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. The final will take place on Sunday 8 September in Warsaw, Poland.