The winner of this day was Belgium’s Benny Naessens with the BWP mare Just in Time (by Nonstop). The combination was the fastest by far in the class for eight-year-olds: 0-64.63. Benny was very happy with the course: “Very constructive and it offered enough possibilities. Tops International Arena has everything for young horses to gain experience.” According to Benny the mare has the talent to compete at 5* Grand Prix level. “She has her own jumping style, but she is very focussed, he says. Earlier this year Benny won the Moorsele Grand Prix with her.
A bit later it was Steven Van Meersche who secured the second win for Belgium. He won the class for seven-year-olds with his gelding Kyamant van’t Spieveld (Diamant de Semilly x Toulon). Steven was very satisfied: “Today it went much better, he is getting used to the environment and is getting more experienced. Although he has much blood and a lot of temperament, he is very easy to ride.” Kyamant van’t Spieveld was bred by the Thijssen family and still the owners. “As a four/five-year-old Kyamant was difficult to ride, too hot,” explains owner Thijssen. “Dries de Bock rode the horse until he was six-years-old. He did a good job, but Dries was offered the opportunity to ride with Cian O’Connor and then Steven took over. The gelding temperamental at horse shows, but at home he is very sweet and cheerful.”
Portugal’s Rodrigo Giesteira de Almeida had the fastest clear round in the competition for six-year-olds. He rode the mare Lovely v.d. Broekkant (by Heartbreaker), owned by Inno Lammers. Rodrigo too was happy with the performance of his horse: “I liked the course, it started reasonably easy but halfway it became a bit more difficult,” said Rodrigo afterwards. He rides the mare for one and a half years and foresees a good future for her. “She is very hot, but a real fighter, she likes to win.”
The five-year-olds were last to go at Tops International Arena and Britain’s Harry Bateman repeated yesterday’s win with his mare Heerdelon. “She did so well! I planned to go easy today, but she went for it and all I had to do was steering,” said a happy Bateman afterwards. When asked what his dream for the future is, he answered: “To become as successful as the riders I admire, like Scott Brash.”
Tomorrow the best combinations will compete in the finales.
Full results