Germany’s Philip Rüping finally turned his brilliant form of this season into a victory in the Grolsch Grand Prix of Twente on Sunday. Earlier this season, Rüping finished second in the Grand Prix of Hagen, third in the Grand Prix of Redefin and most recently second in the Grand Prix of Wiesbaden. Aboard Copperfield (Contendro I x Drosseklang II), the 32-year-old rider turned out unbeatable in the CSI3* 1.60m Grand Prix of CSI Twente.

While Philip Rüping took the lead early on in the jump-off with a time of 37.97 seconds, Great-Britain’s Joe Whitaker and William Funnell were to go after him. “I knew both of them are in great form and both of them already won a car at CSI Twente earlier this week”, Philip Rüpng said about his rivals. And both Joe Whitaker aboard Lola V and Willam Funnell aboard Billy Congo went home with a second car from CSI Twente, but it was Philip Rüping who drove back home with the most beautiful Mercedes Benz. “My horse is in really good form. He jumped clear in almost every Grand Prix he jumped the last couple of months, and we are getting faster and faster each time. I can’t thank my horse owner Paul Schockemöhle enough for giving me such fantastic horses to ride. I try to do my job as a rider as good as possible, but without a good horse you are nothing. Copperfield is for sure the best horse I have ever had and I am very happy to have him!”

Joe Whitaker finished in the runner-up position finishing in 38.35 seconds, while Willam Funnell and his home bred Billy Congo (Vechta x Animo) finished third in 39.00 second. Germany’s Jörg Naeve and Belgium’s Pieter Clemens ended up fourth and fifth respectively in the jump-off with eight competitors.

Text © World of Showjumping by Peter van der Waaij // Picture © Jenny Abrahamsson