29 December '23
Thibault Philippaerts and Obama de la Liniere became the winners of the Prize Léon Melchior!
© Paardenfotograaf
In an almost full Nekkerhal, Jumping Mechelen's breeding day reached her absolute highlight on Wednesday evening with the Prize Léon Melchior, the famous Zangersheide Open Sires of the World. 31 top combinations made it a true spectacle and 9 of them managed to jump to a place in the jump-off after a flawless basic round. It was the Belgian rider Thibault Philippaerts who was the best with his 9-year-old stallion Obama de la Liniere, a son of Marius Claudius and Golden Hawk who was bred by Jeroen Lissens. Philippaerts already started as the 2nd combination and with a masterful round in 33.87 seconds he managed to win this Sires of the World title!
Thibault Philippaerts: “Luck was on my side today. It was like we flowed through the course. Obama is only 9 years old. My father rode him as a 7-year-old, and he prepared him perfectly for me. I basically just had to get on. I am very grateful for that. Actually, we never discussed why he passed Obama on to me. I needed a horse, and Obama was ready. He trusted me enough to see what we could achieve together, and it’s currently going well.”
The silver during this highlight of the day was reserved for Philippaerts’ compatriot Jens Vandenberk and his 18-year-old stallion Faldiano, the son of Heartbreaker and Jus de Pomme from the breeding of Benny Helsen and with whom Vandenberk has already built up an impressive list of achievements in recent years. He also kept all the poles in the cups again, but with a time of 34.74 seconds he came just to short for victory. The British rider Matthew Sampson managed to claim 3rd place after Vandenberk. He was in the saddle of the 15-year-old grey stallion Daniel (Heartbreaker x San Patrignano Mister), whom he managed to lead to the finish in 35.27 seconds.
The German rider Daniel Deusser with the 9-year-old stallion Otello de Guldenboom (Tobago Z x Caretino Z – F: Hugo Versnick) and the Belgian rider Jos Verlooy with the 10-year-old stallion Nixon van 't Meulenhof (Denzel van 't Meulenhof x Carthago Z – B: Mariette Van Lombergen) were the other candidates in the top 5 of the rankings.