Greek Athens was turned upside down this afternoon with the 3* World Cup Grand Prix held there during the Longines EEF Series competition. An exciting jump-off with only eight competitors had the Italian Filippo Codecasa as the big winner!
Thirty combinations competed in this 1.55m class. The stakes were high because the class also counted for the Paris Olympics! With only eight clear combinations after the first round and four abandonments, it quickly became clear that the combinations would not get it for free.
Italian Filippo Codecasa could count on the stallion Lugano van het Lindehof to stay clear again in the jump-off. The son of Darco stayed clear of all the wood and provided the fastest time. Besides Codecasa, only one other combination kept it clear. That honor was for his compatriot Roberto Previtali, who got the silver on the saddle of Conthargo-Blue (by Conthargos).
The podium closed with another Belgian bred horse. The BWP mare Hending van de Bresser (by Carabas vd Wateringhoeve) tapped a bar out of the scoop under Ukrainian Konstantin Zolin. Their time was just under three seconds faster than the winning chrono but their mistake left them stranded at three.
With also a faster time but four faults behind his name, Angel Niagolov rode Chaccball (v. Chacco-Blue) to fourth place. Rounding out the top five, Kussica 'T' (v. Diktator van de Boslandhoeve) was guided to five by Andrea Messersì (ITA).