“We've come a long way,” she said about the mare owned by Stephex Stables and Paul Swinnen. “We took it very slow in the beginning because I always knew she was special. There are no words for her. When I first started riding her, she was a bit colder but always had massive scope. When she was younger, she was not so impressed with the small jumps but now the bigger the fences, the better she jumps.”

Emilie Conter and Portobella van de Fruitkorf (Bamako de Muze), bred by Willy Blocken, finished clear in 42.43 seconds, beating British speed rival Harry Charles with Sherlock (formerly Novio vd Donkhoeve). Charles and Gustaaf Quintelier’s Bisquet Balou vd Mispelaere-sired horse crossed the finish line in 43.33 seconds, just ahead of Henrik von Eckermann (SWE) and King Edward (Edward), bred by Wim Impens.

Earlier this week, von Eckermann mentioned that his connection with King Edward was back and that he had regained the confidence to go for it in the Grand Prix. Belgian breeding dominated the top four, with Tom Wachman (IRL) and Tabasco de Toxandria (Thunder vd Zuuthoeve, breeder: Werner Dierickx) securing fourth place with a clear round.

Only these top four riders managed to complete the jump-off without faults. Earlier, Darragh Kenny had claimed victory in the WEF Challenge Cup with Zero K (Kannan GFE), but this time the pair finished in fifth place.

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