Albert and Vincent Voorn shine in La Baule

Albert Voorn was the winner of this special two phase competition with Eurocommerce Lexington.

This was the great way that the Vice-Olympic Champion (in 2000 in Sydney) started his week in La Baule. France’s Alexi Gauthier was 2nd with his young 8-year-old mare Queen de la Cour. Poland’s Igor Kawiak finished 3rd with Noah de Bacon, the talented daughter of Quick Star.

The day continued with the Prix Ouest-France, a speed class. Great Britain’s Nick Skelton with his bay gelding Unique were the fastest (66.02). The horse and rider combination, winners of the puissance class in the Washington International Show Jumping Competition last October and of a 1m50 class in Wellington (Florida) in January, confirmed its great form. The Netherlands’ Vincent Voorn and his stallion Audi’s Gestion Priamus Z were not quite so fast (68.00) but they finished 2nd thanks to their clear round. Denis Lynch (IRL) and Night Train, a son of Calvaro, gave it their all in the arena achieving the best time (64.62), but with one down they ended up in 3rd place.

Great Britain's Peter Charles and the French mare Murka’s Odie de Frevent performed magnificently in this Table A with a jump-off, thanks to their double clear round. So the British national anthem rang out for the second time of the day. France’s Julien Epaillard and his stallion Maestro de la Loge achieved a great double clear round in this first rehearsal for the Grand Prix Longines of La Baule which will take place on Sunday. But they weren’t fast enough to beat the British rider and horse combination and finished 2nd. Sweden’s Jens Fredricson and his mare were third.