The opening class for the Five Year olds at Lanaken today saw 82 combinations go through on zero faults in the Table A 1.20m class not against the clock.
Rather than going through every horse on that list I will bring you some of the statistics:
Netherlands
- 15 horses
Ireland - 10 horses
Belgium - 9 horses
Germany - 7 horses
France - 6 horses
USA - 4 horses
Sweden - 4 horses
GBR - 4 horses
Australia
- 3 horses
Italy - 3 horses
Turkey - 2 horses
Spain - 2 horses
Denmark - 2 horses
Slovenia - 1 horse
Austria - 1 horse
Portugal - 1 horse
Mexico - 1 horse
Brazil - 1 horse
Switzerland - 1 horse
Poland - 1 horse
So with 20 Nations represented this must surely be one of the best supported jumping shows in the world - and with good reason - this is the "graduation school" for tomorrow's Olympic champions and many have in the past 10 years gone from Lanaken to further greatness.
At his point I must make mention of Australian rider, James Paterson-Robinson, based in Belgium who has made a huge name for himself in all the arenas from young horse classes through to being the only Australian to qualify a spot for Athens Olympics in 2004. He has not qualified the spot for himself and the Australian Equestrian Federation will make the decision as to who takes the spot - in my humble and most personal of opinions you would have to see James as the front runner - he is in the midst of the best competition in the world and he is not only placing but consistently winning!
In the five year old class James Paterson-Robinson qualified three horses under the Australian flag.
And as the discussion was centered on James in the above paragraph let's move on to the 6 year old class who had a 1.30m Two Phase competition as their opening competition for the show. James won this class in fine style showing a clean pair of heels to second place by just over one second. James was riding Waldman and Shep's KWPN gelding Portorico who is by Indoctro out of a Dominard mare. James was also in the money with Pandora qualifying in 25th place. Pandora is a KWPN mare of Indoctro x Afrikaner breeding. No doubt Alan Waldman will be most pleased with James' "day at the office" on this opening day.
In second place was French rider Patrice Delaveau riding JYHBA Plardiere, a chestnut gelding by Paladin Des Ifs out of a Glamorgan mare. Third went to the Nederlands, Willem Greve and Holsteiner Calvinado a grey by Corrado out of an Ahorn Z mare.
Ireland's Cian O'Connor took fourth placing onboard his own Echo Beach - a chestnut mare by Clover Echo out of a Cavalier Royale mare. This mare was formerly owned by Marion Hughes and has won and placed in the top 3 for almost every young horse class in Ireland and I understand Cian has high hopes for the future of this talented girl.
Belgium took fifth spot with the KWPN Pouwer (Concorde x Nimmerdor) and this horses was ridden by Nick Vrins with the horse being owned by Rostal nv. Sixth spot went to another KWPN horse - again for the Nederlands - Broere VDL Pacific (Peter Pan x Voltaire) ridden by Wout-Jan Van der Schans.
The 6 year old class had 133 starters with place money to 32nd placing. No doubt the final for the 6 year olds will be a hard fought battle as will the 5 and 7 year olds. The Organisers must no doubt be delighted with the huge number of entries this year as this concept has grown throughout Europe and now is well represented in New Zealand and just beginning in Australia.
In the 7 year olds there was a massive 110 starters for their first look at the arena and they jumped a Table A 1.40m class with jump off. Money went to 25th place.
First in the 7 year olds went to Omelli - a KWPN gelding by Burgraaf out of an Equador mare and ridden by Pieter-Martijn de Bruijn (NED) and is owned by the De Bruyn Brothers. They jumped double clear with a jump off time of 38.60secs.
France, the reigning World Champion Team and Samsung Super League Champions are generally "on fire" in showjumping right now and today second was theirs in this prestigious class - Phillippe Rozier is no stranger to the best jumping arenas in the world and today he was steering Ilostra Dark around the course. This bay mare is by Palestro II out of a Nemrod de Baussy mare and is, of course, a Selle Francais horse. They jumped double clear in 39.13secs.
Linda Heed from Sweden was in 3rd spot with the Swedish Warmblood bay gelding by Cortez out of Colombian Friend xx. They jumped double clear in 40.70secs to secure their placing. Fourth spot belonged to Great Britain's John Renwick and Biddle Jutra's grey Holsteiner gelding (Calido x Literaft) with double clear and a time of 40.70secs.
Belgium took fifth placing with Fabrice Galdini riding Schreiber's La Mauricette D'Herock, a bay mare by Lancer II out of a Quand Viens Tu, an oldenburger - they were another double clear and their time was 41.43secs.. The French took sixth place with another of their super experienced and many titled rider, Eric Levallois riding Selle Francais mare Ivory Star (Arpege Pierreville x Jalisco B) with their double clear in 41.56secs.
So the scene is set for another great day of jumping tomorrow when we will bring you a brief rundown of the days results.
