In Lier, Belgium, an international 2-star show has just been concluded with the Grand Prix Flandria Rent. 64 combinations entered the show ring for this 1,50m class where riders could collect points for the Longines ranking. The basic round was quite difficult. It took a while before anyone managed to clear the course. A lot of faults were made on the bar de spa of 'BMW Smets' and also on fence number nine a lot of combinations made a jumping error. Petronella Andersson was the first one who managed to keep the wood untouched, but she got a time penalty. After some waiting, it was Belgium's Constant Van Paesschen who rode the first clear round. Eventually seven combinations managed to ride a clear in the first round. A jump-off with seven riders also had to decide who would take home the victory... In that jump-off, it was the young Belgian rider Gilles Thomas who was the fastest. With Conaro (f. Con Capitol) under the saddle, he reached the finish line in 38,60 seconds. With this time, he was slightly faster than Judy-Ann Melchior and her 11-year old Ailina 6 (f. Chicco's Boy) who ended on second place. This Belgian combination jumped a clear jump-off in 39,95 seconds. The third place went to David Quicley. He rode Eis Isaura (f. Tinka's Boy) clear to the finish line in 39,96 seconds. Only the top three could keep the zero on the scoreboard. The fastest 4-faulter was Constant Van Paesschen. He rode a very fast time with Carlow van de Helle (f. Caretino) but a jumping penalty resulted in a fourth place. Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and Sirene de la Motte (f. Apache D'adries) took account of the fifth place. Click here for the results
