Nicola Philippaerts gives Belgian crowd what they came for last Gold Tour class Knokke

The whole weekend at Knokke Hippique was dominated by French rider and number on the FEI ranking list, Simon Delestre. But today the crowd in Belgium finally got what they have been waiting for when  Nicola Philippaerts won the 'Small Grand Prix' in the Gold Tour. The win even got a silver lining when fellow countryman Hendrik Denutte lined up for second place with Titouan Schumacher from France in third.

After his second place in the  Porsche Grand Prix from yesterday evening Philippaerts game was on for today's Gold SGP Grand Prix. In a jump-off with twelve competitors  the young Belgian rider was the only one who could keep a double clear with the 12 -year old sBs mare Ustina Sitte ( v . Clinton). He was not only clear but also fast round the course in 44.05 seconds, forcing the competition to ride fast and make mistakes.


Henry Denutte and the 11 -year old KWPN mare Antigone Quality (v . Berlin) came very close to the time of  Philippaerts putting a time of 44.23 seconds on the clock. But even with one pole down the pair still were good enough to stay ahead of Schumacher and Oceane de Nantuel. The top five was completed by Paola Amilibia ( Chac Balou N) and Emma Stoker ( Townhead Tallulah V).

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