Text © World of Showjumping
Wilm Vermeir (BEL) and the 11-year-old mare Linguini de la Pomme (Marius Claudius x Tinka's Boy) took their third win at CHIO Aachen on Sunday, when topping the 1.45m Röwer & Rüb Prize. The pair was also victorious in Friday's Prize of Soers and Wednesday's Prize of Handwerk.
Coming in as no. 11 out of the 31 horse-and-rider combinations in the class, Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) and Venice Beach (Voltaire x Escudo I) delivered a round that looked hard to beat when stopping the clock at 58.78 seconds – pushing Ashlee Bond (ISR) and Donatello (Diarado x Lamoureux I) down from the top of the scoreboard by 0.18 seconds. However, as next to go, Wilm Vermeir and Linguini de la Pomme managed to shave off 0.35 seconds on Pessoa's time and none of those to come could catch the top three. Tobias Meyer (GER) and Casablanca - H (Conteur x Landor) finished fourth, while fifth went to Francisco José Mesquita Musa (BRA) on Catch Me Marathon (Contagio x Werther).
"I had a super week here in Aachen, I was also lucky,” Vermeir said after taking another win. “Linguini de la Pomme was here as my speed horse; she was aimed at three classes and won all of them. She also did the CHIO Cup, where we came second – unbelievable. We have had her for about eight months now and she is doing really well. She wins a lot at 1.45m level and I think she is the perfect speed horse. It was the first time she jumped on grass though; I think she really likes it. Her strength is that she is not spooky at all; when she sees the next jump, she goes for it. She always works with the rider."