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Belgium had plenty to celebrate in Saturday afternoon’s CSI2* 1.45m Grand Prix presented by STX Horsetrucks at the Brussels Stephex Masters. In a field of 59 combinations, Eliah Pieters and Owen van het Lindehof came out on top after a closely fought jump-off in the Grand Place Arena.
Four combinations managed to produce a second clear round, and with very little separating the fastest three, every fraction of a second counted. Pieters made his move count. Together with the 12-year-old Owen van het Lindehof, he stopped the clock at 41.19 seconds and held on to the lead.
Just 0.66 seconds separated him from Dennis van den Brink, who crossed the finish in 41.85 seconds with Night Star. The Dutch combination had to settle for second place, but it would prove to be far from an empty-handed afternoon for Van den Brink.
Stijn Timmerman ensured a second Belgian combination on the podium. Riding Rakker Van St Anneke, he completed the jump-off clear in 42.50 seconds to finish third. Kristina Klebanova and Diamanda 4 took fourth for Monaco as the final double-clear combination.
One week, three horses and six placings for Dennis van den Brink
Van den Brink’s runner-up finish in the Grand Prix completed a remarkably consistent CSI2* campaign and earned him the title of Best Rider of the CSI2*. For his performance, he was also awarded a Stephex Dream Tack Box.
The Dutchman competed across the week with Night Star, Chardonna V Z and Nanjing HW and collected a placing in six of his seven CSI2* starts. His week already began strongly on Wednesday, with Chardonna V Z taking third in the 1.35m and Nanjing HW finishing eighth in the 1.30m class.
Chardonna V Z added another top-five finish on Thursday, while Night Star became Van den Brink’s main contender in the bigger classes. The pair placed in both 1.40m Grand Prix qualifiers before producing their best result when it mattered most: second place in Saturday’s 1.45m Grand Prix.
Rather than one standout performance deciding the title, it was Van den Brink’s ability to keep producing results across different classes and with three different horses that made the difference. Six placings from seven CSI2* starts saw him leave Brussels as the competition’s most consistent rider.
