Edited press release from Knokke Hippique

Saturday's CSI3* Grand Prix at Knokke Hippique 2022, presented by Knokke-Heist and Electric City Mobile, was won by Belgium's own Koen Vereecke and the 11-year-old stallion Lector vd Bisschop (Bamako de Muze x For Pleasure). 

Of the more than 58 riders competing, only eight finished the difficult first round without faults. It was the final line with a tricky triple combination that caused most trouble, and Italian course designer
Uliano Vezzani had clearly set the bar high for this 1.50m Grand Prix. 

Francois Mathy Jr. (BEL) and Uno de La Roque (Numero Uno x Kannan) were the first to post a double clear, and set the time to beat in round two to 39.37 seconds. Lorenzo De Luca (ITA) and Don Vito (Quaprice Bois Margot x Jus de Pomme) also delivered a double clear, but could not match the time of Mathy Jr. with their 40.53 seconds. However, Philip Houston (GER) and | Sandros S Bella (Sandro Boy x Chacco-Blue) managed to bring the time down to 38.85, taking over the lead. 

The last into the arena was Koen Vereecke with Lector vd Bisschop. With a magnificent lightning-fast performance in 38.62 seconds they snatched the win from Houston, and made the Zoute Plage arena explode in applause. 

"I watched the performance of my competitors very carefully on the big screen. They rode smoothly but not very fast. So I knew I had a chance with Lector. He is a quick horse anyhow and felt very good during the first round. Plus, he had some time to rest because we jumped early on in the class. So the odds were in my favour and I luckily was able to capitalize on my chances," Vereecke said after his win.