Text © World of Showjumping

“I’m happy,” Brazil’s Stephan de Freitas Barcha said after the 12-year-old mare Dirka Imperio Egipcio (Very Berlin de Castel x Lauterbach) had jumped to the win in Friday's CSIO5* 1.45 Prix Proconfort – Horsewear at Jumping International de La Baule 2025.

The pair finished as runners-up in Thursday’s CSIO5* 1.45m Prix Boss Equestrian, but today they went all the way to the top by a safe margin of a bit more than a second. “She’s a quite special mare,” de Freitas Barcha explained to World of Showjumping about Dirka Imperio Egipcio [born Dirka de Blondel], that he acquired from Italy's Lorenzo de Luca last year. “She is so careful and very hot, and can be a bit difficult in the warm-up, but once she in the ring she is simply a real winner. In the end, I just have to steer her in the right direction.”

“I made a plan for the course, but I did not actually follow it because she is so special – so I have to adjust as we go," de Freitas Barcha continued. "There were a lot of connecting distances, and I did more or less the same strides than the others, however, she is just so fast."

"Today, I think it was more her than me,” de Freitas Barcha added, smiling, about how he secured the win.

Finishing second, Emilio Bicocchi (ITA) and Hemerald d'Argonne (Emerald x Quidam de Revel) crossed the timers 1.05 seconds behind the winning time. Roger Yves Bost (FRA) and Embassy de Chateau (Jarnac x Bolero de Brecey) completed the podium 2.42 seconds slower than the winners. Olivier Perreau (FRA) and Himalaya du Temple (Toulon x Radieux) finished fourth, followed by Henrik von Eckermann (SWE) and Glamour Girl (VDL Zirocco Blue x Caletto I) in fifth.