The 50th edition of Indoor Brabant was a very successful one for the Netherlands indeed. Three riders stayed clear in the jump-off of the Grand Prix, all Dutch and all on KWPN horses. Leopold van Asten and VDL Groep Zidane were the winners.

With twelve riders out of the global top 20, Indoor Brabant had a very strong field of contestants indeed. Course builder Louis Konickx produced a technical, challenging course, that several top riders were not able to finish succesfully. Wout-Jan van der Schans was the 24th to start with Oklund-son Capetown (out of Santha by Carlino, breeder Frits van Os from Uden) and was the first to finish it clear. Six others followed and made it to the jump-off. Van der Schans was also the first to stay clear in this final round. Several others were not able to stay off the wood. In the end his time was good enough for second place. Leopold van Asten proved to be in top form. He rode VDL groep Zidane N.O.P., who also qualified for the World Cup finals, to the fastest time.  The zealous son of Heartbreaker (out of  Colanda stb pref prest by Calando I, breeder Frank Kok from Etten) went eagerly round. “It was a pretty challenging course”, Van Asten said. “Technical, high, all aspects were in it. After walking the course I decided to change my strategy, and that went well. VDL Groep Zidane jumped really well. He gave me the right feeling in the warm-up and also in the first round, we never got in trouble. In a jump-off with only seven riders, you’ve got nothing to loose, so I went for it. It went well from the first canter stride. I took risks; Zidane jumped amazingly and took us to the victory. I want to say a special thanks to my friend Wim van der Leegte, who is my sponsor for 16 years already. I hope we can add many more years like this!”

Top results for Calimero
After winning the 1.55m on Friday, the first qualifier for the Grand Prix went to Marc Houtzager with the careful and fast Quidam de Revel-son Sterrehof’s Calimero (out of Maifa ster prest by Libero H, breeder Stal Horn from Oud Ootmarsum). With an excellently ridden jump-off, he completed the Dutch podium. Three Dutch riders on three KWPN horses was a memorable finish of the 50th Grand Prix of Brabant.

JS/YBF for KWPN

Photo copyright Hippofoto/Dirk Caremans