The Wivaldi Prize, a 1.40m speed class, was easy pickings for Hessel Hoekstra at Jumping Amsterdam. He raced the nine-year-old Oldenburg Stargos VDL (by Stakkato Gold) through the course without any faults and clocked the winning time of 56.07 seconds. No one else came close. Jur Vrieling put in a good performance with another stallion from VDL Stud. The top rider steered VDL Mattias (by Comme il Faut) clear over the finish line in 59.13 seconds. This earned him second place. The always fast Julien Epaillard had to settle for third place in the 1.40m. In the saddle of Guarana d’Auge (by Safari d’Auge), he left all the fences up and completed the course in 59.21 seconds.

Training round

Top combinations such as Michael Greeve with the 13-year-old Commissar Pezi (by Commissario) and Kim Emmen with the 13-year-old Hellix du Seigneur (by Curby du Seigneur) literally used the Wivaldi Prize as a training round, but there was also a lot of competition for the prize money. Suus Kuyten (sixth), Leopold van Assten (eleventh), and Willem Greve (twelfth) picked up their first Amsterdam euros in a competition that offered the audience some great show jumping.

‘He performed exceptionally well’

Hessel Hoekstra: ‘Stargos performed exceptionally well in the 1.40m. Everyone knows he is very fast. Today, the plan was to go for it, but not to give everything away. He still has a few days of jumping ahead of him, of course. Before I entered the ring, I watched Jullien’s round. I was confident that it was possible to improve on this time.”

“Stargos is very good at winning competitions.”

“Stargos has been with us since he was five. I took him over from Iris Hakvoort. He is very good at winning competitions. As a young horse, he was already at the front of the pack and performed well in the stallion competitions. It’s always nice to have a horse like that.”

“He hasn’t seen a ring like this very often.”

“Tomorrow, Stargos will compete in the 1.45m against the clock. After that, I will decide whether he will compete in the 1.50m on Sunday or not. He is only nine years old and does not have much experience in competitions such as Jumping Amsterdam. He has not seen a ring like this very often. Next week, he will compete in the VHO Trophy at the KWPN Stallion Inspection in Den Bosch. After that, he will get some rest and then we will start working towards the outdoor season.”

Photo by Digishots

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By Eline Korving on behalf of Jumping Amsterdam