Indoor Brabant CSI5* is well underway in Den Bosch, Holland, with the opening day of competition hosting a packed schedule of international show jumping and dressage.
The 35-year-old French rider Kevin Staut was by far the fastest in the VDL Groep Prize, a speed class with hurdles to 1.55m, aboard the SBS mare Ayade the Septon Et HDC. The Frenchman, who rides as part of the Jump Five group at Haras de la Forge in the Normandy region in Vauville, managed to ride a clear round in a time of 62.07 seconds. More than two seconds slower was the Swedish rider Rolf-Göran Bengtsson with the 17-year-old Holsteiner stallion Casall ASK. The European Champion of 2011 was 64.61 seconds on the clock. The third place went to number two in the world Scott Brash with Hello Forever, an Oldenburg gelding of the famous stallion For Pleasure. The Dutchman in this company was Gert-Jan Bruggink with Vampire in sixth place. Complete results
Earlier in the day on Friday afternoon, Jur Vrieling,a member of the Dutch team that won gold at the European and World Championships, won the first international jumping class with his 11-year-old KWPN stallion Arezzo VDL. He finished the two phases competition in 25.26 seconds. This was just a little faster than the round of Germany’s Hans-Dieter Dreher. Dreher, who won the Grand Prix of Maastricht in November last year, finished in 26.08 seconds with Callisto, a Holsteiner gelding by Casall. Third place went to Italy’s Emanuele Gaudiano with Carlotta 232 who stopped the clock at 26.21.