Brazil / Belgium / France a cosmopolitan trio in Saint Lô

Basse Normandie Region (Class n°3 – 1m45): Brazilian duo!

Current world n°40, Bernardo Alves is one of the best riders participating to this edition. Many riders had chosen this big class (with 20000€ of prize money) to qualify for the Grand Prix on Sunday.

But some just decided to work and secure a clear round. Bernardo prefered to run against the clock in the jumpoff. He did the fastest clear round among 24 qualified couples. Riding French horse Kingly du Reverdy, he just beat his compatriot Pedro Veniss (2nd on Amaryllis) and was 3 seconds faster than French Olivier Guillon with Wido*Alia. The first 30 of the ranking are qualified for the Grand Prix on Sunday.

National Stud Farm Trophy (Class n°1 – 1m30): Emmanuel Vincent harvests immediately

Although the low temperature in Normandy on Friday early morning, Emmanuel Vincent gave no chance to his opponents to win the very first class of this International Show Jumping of Saint-Lô 2009. Riding Gazelle de Lavigne, he finished his tour 4 seconds quicker than the 2nd rider, Irish Shane Breen with Royal Concorde. Gregory Wathelet, leader of the Belgian delegation, is 3rd riding Rhea du Charmois.

TP Boutté Trophy (Class n°2 – 1m35): 2 on 3

Two hours later, the audience cheered almost the same couples at the prize giving ceremony. Gregory Wathelet offered to Belgium its first national anthem with the help of Belgian Warmblood Willem vh Janshof. He was followed by Shane Breen (2nd again!) and Brazilian Bernardo Alves (3rd). The first French rider has been Eric Février with Mathilda du Ter (4th).