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Home win for Niels Bruynseels in the Grand Prix of Liege

Nov 9, 2015

It was no easy task to win the CSI4* Grand Prix in Liege on Sunday afternoon, but somehow Niels Bruynseels managed to make it look a lot less difficult than what it actually was. The 1.60 competition was a tough conclusion to the show, which also staged a hard Grand Prix qualifier on Saturday night - and in the end only eight of the 48 riders made it to the jump-off in front of a huge crowd of spectators.

The thirteen-fence-first-round-track caused a lot of heartache, even for the best of the competitors. Those who made clear rounds got celebrated properly though, and in the end it was set for a jump-off with a very good field of riders.

John Whitaker did what he is best at - riding fast clear rounds. Aboard Argento (Arko x Gasper), the living legend set the time to beat at 35.11 seconds and the crowds exploded celebrating the British rider as one of their own. It definetly looked hard to beat Whitaker for those to come.

Belgium's own Jerome Guery gave it his best though, and came so close on Papillon Z (Perhaps x Cassini I). Guery was a bit lucky perhaps, as the grey stallion rattled a few poles along the way - but they stayed in the cups and the two crossed the finish line on a time of 35.95 slotting in behind John.

Niels Bruynseels was the next challenger on Cas de Liberte (Cracky Z x Chellano Z). The Belgian rider set off with a determined canter, and left little doubt that he was in for the win. With a great rhythm thorughout, and some very tight turns Niels was lifted on and upwards by the crowds - and when he crossed the finish line he had done the seemingly impossible shaving the time down to 34.42 seconds taking over the lead.

1 CAS DE LIBERTE CRACKY Z 103JH94 Z Niels BRUYNSEELS BEL 0/0/34.42 33.000 €
2 ARGENTO ARKO III GBR41988 A.E.S. John WHITAKER GBR 0/0/35.11 20.000 €
3 PAPILLON Z PERHAPS BEL41125 Z Jérôme GUERY BEL 0/0/35.95 15.000 €
4 CARLITTO VAN'T ZORGVLIET BURGGRAAF BEL42661 BWP Rik HEMERYCK BEL 0/4 10.000 €
5 DREAM OF INDIA GREENFIELD GEM OF INDIA 102RU31 BWP Pieter DEVOS BEL 0/4 6.000 €
6 CASTLEFIELD ECLIPSE OBOS QUALITY 004 IRL40616 ISH Paul ESTERMANN SUI 0/4 4.500 €
7 AMELIA CANTOS 103UH30 KWPN Karim ELZOGHBY EGY 0/4 3.000 €
8 HARRY K CARNUTE 102SP08 DWB Derin DEMIRSOY TUR 0/4 2.500 €
9 BINTANG II TANGELO VAN DE ZUUTHOEVE 103LL90 KWPN Laura RENWICK GBR 4 2.000 €

Click here for all the results

Source World of Showjumping