Maikel van der Vleuten & Salomon. Ph: Manuel Queimadelos/Oxer Sport.
It was a great night for The Netherlands in the Prize Massimo Dutti, with countryman Maikel van der Vleuten securing top honors on opening day of La Coruna CSI5*-W in A Coruna, Spain.
Held at the Casas Novas Equestrian Center on Friday, December 9, 2017, the feature competition of the day saw 44 horse-and-rider combinations take to the 11-obstacle-track.
With 10 partnerships returning for the jump-off, van der Vleuten, riding the 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding Salomon ( Stolzenberg x Aramis), stopped the clock in 34.65s without penalty, ending the night in 1st place.
“I always try to do as much as I can for my own feeling. If I know I can’t beat the time, I know I shouldn’t give it a try. But [in] the first round I had a good feeling, so for the second round the horse gave me a good feeling and that I should go for it,” noted van der Vleuten.
The podium was completed by fellow Dutchman Leopold van Asten and the ten-year-old Oldenburg mare VDL Groep Miss Untouchable (Chacco-Blue x Aldatus), who held 2nd place with a runner-up time of 35.82s, followed by 3rd place finishers Ludger Beerbaum go Germany and Chiara, who crossed the timers in 36.62s.
On Saturday, Casas Novas will highlight in the Longines Grand Prix.
The full results can be viewed here.