On Thursday, no fewer than 15 combinations qualified for the jump-off of the 1.55m Grand Prix qualifier. With just under a two-second lead, Mathijs van Asten raced to victory with his own 13-year-old mare, Cassina Dior (Diarado, breeder: Pip McCarroll).
"To be completely honest, winning was not part of the plan at all! It sounds a bit strange, but it was somewhat of a coincidence," Mathijs van Asten admitted afterward. "I took a fairly tight turn towards obstacle number three, my mare felt great, so I decided to push the pace a bit. I thought, it's a beautiful course, there's decent prize money—why not keep making tight turns and go a bit faster?"
With this strategy, Van Asten pushed Shawn Casady and the 13-year-old Cool Quarz (Quarz, breeder: Gunula Henningsen) into second place. Skylar Wireman completed the top three aboard the nine-year-old Barclino B (Constanzehof's Barcley, breeder: Hans Brinkop).
Just outside the podium, Erynn Ballard finished in fourth place with the 14-year-old KWPN gelding, Gakhir (Spartacus TN), ahead of the winners of the 1.45m opening class—Conor Swail and Theo 160 (Christian).
