(Lier) “She’s a really good Porsche 911! She is very fast, she wastes no time and jumps off the ground quickly!” — Italian show jumping star Lorenzo de Luca compared his Zangersheid black mare Promise Z to a German sports car after his sensational victory in the sixth special test of the BEMER Riders Tour in Lier, Belgium. De Luca and Promise Z took second place, Eduardo Pereira de Menezes (BRA) and H5 Chacco’s Charlie PS by over a second (46.03). Third place went to the Belgian Jeroen Appelen on Monte Blue PS (48.11).
50 combinations that had fought hard for the starting position from the 100-strong qualifying field began the Lier Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon under brilliant sunshine. According to the regulations, 13 couples qualified for the second round of the most high-profile competition at the CSI3* Azelhof and created plenty of excitement. Abdulrahman Alrajhi from Saudi Arabia and his powerful Hanoverian Ventago opened the second round without any mistakes and in 49.34 seconds. Jeroen Appelen and Monte Blue PS were able to beat the time a little later and set a new record, which resulted in a podium place and 15 points in the Riders Tour Ranking. The Brazilian Eduardo Pereira de Menezes on H5 Chacco's Charlie PS was two seconds faster, but knew that his time could be beaten: “My horse was fantastic, but I got too far out in the line for the penultimate jump and knew that a A more skillful ride could be faster than mine.” This came from the winning pair of the qualification: Promise Z jumped quickly and agilely like a cat for Lorenzo de Luca - best time and victory in the Grand Prix of Lier.
De Luca in fourth place in the ranking
Only on Friday, de Luca said that the victory in the qualification was the biggest victory in the career of his Gestion Priamus Z daughter. Today the mare was able to exceed this praise once again. “She jumped so hard, I was so confident after the last round on Friday. She's in such good shape that I tried again today. I knew there were a few fast riders coming after me, so I gave it my all in the second round. As I said, I'm really grateful to have her in my stable and I'm looking forward to what's to come," beamed a very happy Lorenzo de Luca, who immediately secured fourth place in the BEMER today with 20 points Riders Tour Ranking.
Organizer Mike Hazebroek was very happy to host the international show jumping series for the second time: "We had 200 horses on the waiting list, everyone wanted to come this weekend. Having the BEMER Riders Tour here gave our event another star, We are now not a three-star, but a four-star tournament!"
The seventh stage of the BEMER Riders Tour leads to Austria; the CSI Arena Nova indoor tournament will take place in Wiener Neustadt from October 5th to 8th.
