The team from Stephex Stables had a great day in London, when Lorenzo de Luca followed up Daniel Deusser's Santa Stakes-win with victory in the Christmas Pudding Stakes. 

The five-star 1.50m competition against the clock had 37 riders in it, and the fastest one of them was Italy's Lorenzo de Luca on the 9-year-old stallion Halifax van het Kluizebos (Heartbreaker x Fetiche Du Pas) who stopped the timers at 55.46 seconds. Two German riders followed; Philipp Weishaupt on Catokia (Catoki x Coriall) and Maurice Tebbel on Camilla PJ (Calme x Picard).

“He’s a very good horse now, having continued to improve and become more competitive in bigger classes,” said Lorenzo, who is an Olympia first-timer. “Getting the invitation to compete here was a dream come true,” he said. “To win on the first day is just fantastic.”

Source: Press release from Revolution Sports // Archive picture © Jenny Abrahamsson