Yesterday Henk van de Pol won the first qualifier for the Longines Trophy and on Saturday he repeated this success by also winning the second qualifier, the Van Mossel Prize. Looyman proved again that he is a very fast horse by beating all of his 12 opponents in the jump-off. “I thought it was a rather difficult course, but it was a perfect exercise for my horse. I know he is a real good horse and he showed it this evening,” said a proud Van der Pol afterwards. “I was relaxed when I entered the arena, I was thinking about tomorrow’s Grand Prix, but he felt so good I thought ‘ok, let’s go for the jump-off’.” It has been four years that Henk competed at JIM. “I really like the show, but I just did not have to right horse for this level. I am glad to be back.” He stayed realistic about his chances in the Longines Trophy tomorrow: “A mistake can be made in an instant but Looyman is in very fit and I have to make sure I ride as well as I can. Looyman always wants to stay clear, I have no doubts about him.”

France’s Edward Levy finished runner-up with Uno de Cerisy (SF, Open Up Semilly x Siego). Maikel van der Vleuten took third place with Verdi TN (KWPN, Quidam de Revel x Landgraf I) followed by his father Eric in fourth with Djoost Again (KWPN, Cantos x Joost).