Johan-Sebastian Gulliksen wins the Longines Ranking class!
Over the past few days we have been able to fully enjoy a lot of top sport during this opening week of the Z-Tour 2022, but only yesterday the first Longines Ranking class was on the program. Coursedesigner Bernard Mathy and his team had planned a course for this 1.45m main class that consisted of twelve fences and fifteen jumps and fifteen of the seventy combinations qualified for the jump-off after the basic round.
It was the Norwegian rider Johan-Sebastian Gulliksen who became the winner with the 12-year-old gelding Ambrosio d'Alcy (Cabdula du Tillard x Calvaro F.C.). Gulliksen appeared as the third last starter in the ring and claimed the victory with a clear round in 29.50 seconds.
After his victory on Friday, this time there was a second place for the German rider Michael Jung with the 10-year-old mare Edo Sandra (Eldorado van de Zeshoek x Sandro Boy). Jung started right after Gulliksen, but he eventually fell two hundredths of a second short for a second victory. Third place went to the fast Belgian rider Koen Vereecke. He was sitting in the saddle of the 11-year-old stallion Lector Vd Bisschop (Bamako de Muze) and managed to set a time of 29.66 seconds.
Two in a row for Andres Vereecke
Before the start of this Longines Ranking class, a 1.40m class took place at the Ratina Z Arena and here it was, just like Friday, Andres Vereecke who became the winner with his 14-year-old grey mare In The Mood (Winningmood van de Arenberg x Calypso III). Vereecke finished in the second phase in 24.75 seconds and with that performance he was again almost half a second ahead of the rest of the competition.
The Canadian rider Niolaus Leckebusch-Peters followed Vereecke in second place in the ranking. He also held a clear round with the 14-year-old C'Est La Vie 145 (Check In 2 x Calato) in both the first and the second phase, but he eventually finished in 25.19 seconds. Third place went to Australian lady rider Evie Buller, the partner of Dutch rider Robbert Ehrens. With the 11-year-old mare Elenoor (Limbus x Alcatraz) she crossed the finish line in 26.45 seconds and so completing the podium.
