Gilles Thomas wins the CSIU25 Grand Prix!
The CSI3* Grand Prix this afternoon may be the absolute highlight of this final day of week two, but there were also two other Grand Prix’s on the program. And we didn't have to wait long for that this morning, because the 1.45m Grand Prix for the CSIU25 competition started at the Ratina Z Arena at the stroke of 9:00 am. Again a difficult task as it turned out, because of the twenty-three participants who appeared at the start, only two managed to qualify for the jump-off.
One of those two was the Belgian rider Gilles Thomas, who also won the 1.45m class of the CSI3* competition yesterday. This time Thomas was in the saddle of the 10-year-old stallion Feromas Van Beek Z (Fantomas de Muze x Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve) and finally managed to secure the victory after he was the only one who was also clear in the jump-off and this after a finish time of 44.45 seconds.
The other combination that qualified for the jump-off was the Swiss lady rider Morgane Dassio with the 9-year-old mare Dyrka du Carry (Siryus de Bavoz x Ruyblas). She managed to do it a little slower than Thomas in 47.04 seconds but also saw 2 poles fall out of the cups. Third place in this Grand Prix went to the Danish lady rider Philippa Wildfang Linde with the 12-year-old mare Fafira (VDL Groep Zagreb x VDL Sheraton). She was the fastest of the combinations that collected 4 penalty points in the basic round.
Fourth victory for Anthony Wellens
During this final day, the final classes for the young horses were also on the program and Anthony Wellens once again won the class for the 6-year-old horses. He became the winner here with the gelding Quinao V/D Potaarde (Prince van de Wolfsakker x Le Tôt de Semilly – B: Stefaan De Vos), with whom he also won the class on Friday. Wellens finished in this speed class in 68.06 seconds, bringing his number of victories during this second week of the Z-Tour to four.
Thibault Vermeulen finished second with the gelding Carl GB (Casallco x Acord II – B: Claudia Prior). He also managed to ensure a clear round here, but with a time of 68.50 seconds he was just half a second short of the victory. The Austrian rider Benjamin Saurugg followed in third place in the ranking. He crossed the finish line in 70.85 seconds with the Zangersheide mare Vagabond's Lady Merelsnest Z (Vagabond de la Pomme x Mr. Blue - B: Stoeterij 't Merelsnest).
Philippa Wildfang Linde wins the final for the 7-year-olds
The last class on the program this afternoon was the final for the 7-year-old horses in which it was the Danish lady rider Philippa Wildfang Linde who became the winner with her gelding Sohn Der Erde K (Salz Der Erde x Contender – B: Susanna Kleindienst ). She managed to stop the clock in 64.74 seconds and thus keep the competition behind.
Second place went to Belgian rider François Mathy Jr., who jumped already a few times in the spotlight in recent days. He was sitting in the saddle of the gelding First de La Semois (Kannan x Dollar du Murier – B: Olivier Habran) and crossed the finish line in 65.28 seconds. Finally, the Italian rider Filippo Tabarini completed the podium in third place. He finished with the stallion Panamarenko Optimus (Colestus x Quick Star – B: Optimus Agro) in 65.94 seconds.
