Jur Vrieling and Fiumicino van de Kalevallei played a leading role in the first part of the Dutch championship for show jumping riders.
Time played a decisive role in the opening match. Due to an extremely watched ride, in which Vrieling could only continue to correct forwards, he recorded the fastest time. The level-headed Groninger is the first to nuance his leading position. “Last year I was also in the lead, albeit with a different horse, but then things went completely wrong.”
Fiumicino is very experienced
Nevertheless, Vrieling can hope for a good ending, because the now 12-year-old gelding is extremely experienced and has proven several times in the past year that he has no problem with high obstacles that have been built into castles. “Because Fiumicino is now very experienced and doesn’t look at anything, I was able to drive an extremely short line without driving extremely fast. That, coupled with the horse’s natural speed, brought us the win.”
Threat
That Vrieling is far from sure of the final victory becomes clear when we look at the standings. No fewer than nineteen combinations are less than four penalty points (one falling beam) behind him. The greatest threat comes from Maikel van der Vleuten, Harrie Smolders, Frank Schuttert and ‘good old’ Jeroen Dubbeldam, who has found a horse in the ten-year-old Investment that he can handle extremely well.
Friday is the second competition and on Sunday afternoon the two-round final will follow, in which course designer Louis Koninckx – also at the request of national coach Jos Lansink – will test all aspects that a showjumping horse should have.