Riding the stallion Baltic VDL in front of 2,500 spectators in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, the Dutchman produced a faultless ride in 57.83 seconds to relegate Charlotte Bettendorf (0/58.75) to second place by almost a second. The Luxembourg rider was in the saddle on her 10-year old mare Ikea and has been riding for the Belgian Francois Mathy jr’s stables for several months now.
Third was Germany’s Felix Haßmann and the nine-year old gelding SIG Chaccinus (0/59.68). A qualified horse farm manager who works at his parent’s stables, he last year won the opening jumping in Stuttgart after coming second in 2016. The team Olympic champion Penelope Leprevost (France) came fourth six hundredths of a second behind Haßmann on the only eight-year old Holstein gelding Quintair (0/59.74).
