Leopold van Asten & VDL Groep Miss Untouchable. ph: Oslo Horse Show.
Short turns and an effective gallop helped Leopold van Asten of The Netherlands and the ten-year-old Oldenburg mare VDL Groep Miss Untouchable (Chacco-Blue x Aldatus) shoot to the top of the leaderboard in the 1.50m competition against the clock at the Kingsland Oslo Horse Show CSI5*-W.
The class, sponsored by Teleplan, took place at the Telenor Arena in Norway on Friday, October 14, 2017. Forty eight horse and rider combinations took to the 11-obstacle-course designed by Great Britain’s Bob Ellis. Eighteen riders jumped faultless rounds, with van Asten putting in a speedy time of 69.89s to walk way with the lions share of the 250,000.00 NOK purse.
“In this class it was an advantage to be risky,” said van Asten, who has competed on the rated circuit with VDL Groep Miss Untouchable since November of 2015.
“It was a good course with lots of possibilities – it’s always good at a time shop. Those who were willing to take a risk had a big advantage of swinging within.”
In August, the duo had back to back victories at the Brussels Stephex Masters, finishing 1st in both the 1.45m and 1.50m CSI5* competitions.
Egypt’s Abdel Said took home a 2nd place finish aboard the ten-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare Hope van Scherpen Donder ( Quadrillo x Balou du Rouet). The two finished on zero faults with a runner up time of 61.09s. They’ve had three CSI5* victories since the beginning of the year, and most recently secured a 1st place finish at the CSI3* Grand Prix in Zandhoven, Belgium on August 27th.
Third place went back to the Dutch, with Maikel van der Vleuten and the nine-year-old KWPN mare Dana Blue ( Mr. Blue x Hemmingway) finishing on a time of 62.54s. On September 16th, the pair had a 2nd place finish in the €30,000 1.50m International Jumping Riders Club at the Longines Horse Show of Lausanne CSI5*.
The full results can be viewed here.