On Friday, the 1.55m main event in Leipzig was contested directly against the clock. In this Defender Cup, Steve Guerdat jumped to victory with just over a one-second lead. Guerdat kept the competition behind him with the 11-year-old Looping Luna (breeder: Andreas Middelkampf).
Guerdat and the 11-year-old daughter of Calido I finished ahead of Hannes Ahlmann with Tokyo 4 (Toulon). Philipp Schulze Topphoff completed the podium in front of his home crowd. The German rider rounded off the top three aboard the 12-year-old Carla NRW (by Comme Il Faut).
Fellow countryman Marco Kutscher followed with the 12-year-old Aventador S (by Armitage), ahead of Kevin Staut and Vida Loca Z (by Vigo d'Arsouilles). The youngest rider in the top ten was Jules van Hoydonck.
Van Hoydonck guided his 13-year-old BWP mare, Minte vd Bisschop (by Plot Blue), to a fault-free round, securing 10th place.
