Eduardo Pereira de Menezes and H5 Knockando (Comme Il Faut) delivered the fastest clear round of the class, finishing in 71.03 seconds. Kendra Claricia Brinkop followed closely behind with Gatsby Le Magnific (Action Breaker) in 71.30 seconds, while Christian Ahlmann completed the podium with Vivario Jl Z (Vigo d'Arsouilles) in 72.18 seconds.

Abdel Saïd was the best Belgian rider. In the saddle of Wathnan Max (Grandorado TN), he also kept all the fences up and stopped the clock at 72.55 seconds, good enough for fourth place. Antoine Ermann completed the top five with Jiamo Vds (Thunder vd Zuuthoeve) in 72.83 seconds.

Pereira de Menezes is no stranger to Belgium. With its central location in European show jumping, he spends a significant part of the year in the country and regularly uses it as a base for competing across Europe. “Logistically, Belgium is right in the centre of Europe, so I spend quite a lot of time here during the year,” he explained. After starting his Brussels Stephex Masters with a CSI5* win, he is keeping his ambitions for the remainder of the week deliberately open – although certainly not small. “I came here very humble, but very hungry,” Pereira de Menezes smiled. “So we’ll see where that ends up.”

Results