Maikel van der Vleuten and his amazingly jumping grey mare Dana Blue, a KWPN-bred daughter of Mr. Blue, just won the 1,60m-high CSIO5* Grand Prix of Twente. Fun fact: Father Eric won the same class exactly ten years ago.
QUICK RESULT
- Maikel van der Vleuten – Dana Blue
- Simone Blum – DSP Alice
- Kevin Jochems – Cristello
The crowd in Twente erupted in a deafening cheer for Maikels victory with Dana Blue. The pair was able to beat their seven competitors in 41,89 seconds in the jump-off.
Maikel: "This really gives me a lot of confidence for Aachen, where I'm also going to ride Dana Blue. I'm also sure that she didn't give it her all today, so she still has enough energy left for Sunday."
Germany's Simone Blum followed in the second place with DSP Alice (Askari) in 43,29 seconds, half a second faster than Dutchman Kevin Jochems with Cristello. This twelve-year-old son of Numero Uno also went clear and finished one second faster than Büttner's Minimax (Cornado NRW) with Janne-Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann. Fellow countryman Maurice Tebbel and Don Diarado (Diarado) got four penalties and took the fifth spot.
Simone Blum: "I'm so proud of my horse. I think we have a strong team for Sunday, several riders reached the top five today so I think ours odds are very good."
Click here for the complete result.