A true spectacle resulted in victory for Nicola Philippaerts and Derby de Riverland. A second win for the Philippaerts family on this second day of Jumping Mechelen! Philippaerts walks away with a brand-new BMW and, after five years, secures another Belgian victory in the Master's Challenge!
Six combinations survived the base round and the first two tiebreakers of this Master's Challenge. Pius Schwizer entered the penultimate round, where the obstacles were raised one last time, as the first to start on Cyra Z (Casimo). Once again, a flawless ride was recorded for the Swiss duo. Nicola Philippaerts and Derby de Riverland (Kannan) also secured a ticket for the final showdown. To the list were added Koen Vereecke with Halima van het Bonte Hof Z (Hos d'O), Olivier Philippaerts with Le Blue Diamond van't Ruytershof (Plot Blue), and Jur Vrieling with Griffin van de Heffinck (Castelino van de Helle).
So, five combinations in the final tiebreaker! The obstacles remained as they were in this round, the time became decisive, and it came down to speed and agility with these duos. Once again, Schwizer was the first to go. With the nine-year-old Zangersheide mare, he gave it his all, and it proved effective until the last obstacle. Their time was 37.12 seconds. The Philippaerts family had a 50% chance of victory! Nicola and the ten-year-old son of Kannan were guided to the finish by an enthusiastic audience, heading for a flawless ride and their time was 34.53 seconds. After a mistake by Koen Vereecke and the ten-year-old Zangersheide mare, it was Olivier who could snatch the victory from his brother. The twelve-year-old BWP stallion knocked the pole off the cups at obstacle one, so it was also over for them.
Did the victory stay in their own country, or did it go to the Netherlands? That fate lay in the hands of Jur Vrieling and the eleven-year-old sBs mare. They could still try to beat Nicola Philippaerts' time. Vrieling was determined to achieve the shortest time but could not compete with the dominant Belgian combination.