Thian Van Hoydonck leads Twix to victory in second qualifier for six-year-olds

The second qualifying round for the six-year-old show jumpers started this morning at 08.15hrs and, like yesterday, took place at the Ramiro Z Arena. Unlike yesterday, riders and spectators were able to enjoy pleasant weather conditions today with plenty of sunshine, which naturally brought in a large crowd of enthusiastic visitors.

Like yesterday, the course built by Bernard Mathy and his team was at a height of 1.35m, but this time it was jumped directly against the clock. As a result, speed became as important as precision. A total of 249 combinations appeared at the start of this second qualification and, of these, 97 managed to complete the round successfully. The fastest and eventual winner was Belgian rider Thian Van Hoydonck and the BWP gelding Twix, a son of Heartbeat and Accardi born to breeder Marc Raskin. The duo rode a clear round in 60.43 seconds, managing to outclass the competition.

Following their resounding victory yesterday,^2nd place this time was for British rider Alexander McLean and the Oldenburg mare Miss Contoulonia PS (Messenger x Conthargos) from the breeding farm of Paul Schockemöhle. McLean and Concoulonia PS were again keen on the top prize, but their time of 60.91 seconds proved just short of a second victory. With this performance, however, they confirmed their good form and are therefore undoubtedly among the favourites for the medals on Sunday.

Third place went to Irish rider Eoin Brennan, who jumped a solid and clear round with the Irish-bred gelding Fernhill SDF Five Star (Big Star x Lux Z - breeder: Samantha Heaney Fegan). The duo rode through the course with precision and confidence and clocked off in 61.36 seconds, placing them convincingly at the top of the leaderboard.