Willliam Funnel claims third Derby of Eindhoven

Willliam Funnel claims third Derby of Eindhoven
It was no easy task to stay clear in yesterdays Derby of Eindhoven. Only one rider kept his horse away from the wood and he went by the name of William Funnel. The Brit rode a fantastic round and stayed ahead of Dutch rider Bianca Schoenmakers who was wel underway to keep a clear, but had a sad pole coming down with the finish line in sight.

The concept of Derby is not new to Brit who had already claimed victory in the Eindhoven twice before. Today he added a third one to his record by riding the course with extreme caution. Aboard his AES ruin Billy Buckingham (v. Billy Congo) he was one of first combinations on course. But se the bar high by only accumulating two penalty points for time at the finish.

None even came clos for a long time. Many mistakes were made and favorites like Henk van de Pol and Jessica Mendoza stranded on the Irish Wall. But then there was Bianca Schoenmakers and her KWPN bred Dha Dha (v. Douglas) rode her third Derby from Eindhoven like a pro. The time was good and many heavy jumps were overcome without difficulty. But with here eyes on the price it was the VDL oxer on the way to the finish who claimed a casualty. On that fairly easy jump a bar feel down. Nevertheless, the Brabant Amazone was to draw up the Funnel in the award ceremony and receive second place.

In third place it was Joy Lammers who jumped an amazing round with Zomerfee Van De Broekkant. Nevertheless, the length of the trail became a problem for the two and about halfway trough two jump errors of the Oklund mare ccured. But with a good steady time of 147.14 second she was a lot faster as Swedish rider Erika Lickhammer and Bonaire (v. Vigo D'Arsoulles), who finished the course in 163.41 seconds.

Belgian rider Wouter Devos completed the top five with his Emporio Van T Holeinde (v. Fetiche du Pas). After some encouragement of his rider the "Devils Dijk" was jumped clear. But on the fence in after the Irish Wall the pair made their first mistake. Two more followed but they did retain their fifth place.