Tim Lips and Bayro Photo courtesy Leszek Wójcik
Tim Lips (NED) with the 13-year-old Bayro was unbeatable in the CCI4*-S class during the Strzegom Spring Open in Poland while local rider Mateusz Kiempa won the 3* class with Libertina. The Dutch rider took the lead after the dressage phase and jumped clear on cross country and show jumping to secure his leading position in the class.
“It was Bayro’s first start of the season” says Tim “I know my horse is a super star. We had a great start in the dressage already. About the cross country, I think it was a very nice course for the beginning of the season, Bayro is a very experienced horse and it felt easy for me. Today in the show jumping he did a great round and gave me a fantastic feeling”
Japan’s Yoshiaki Oiwa finished in the second place with Calle 44 while third place was battled for during the three phases. The French rider Aurelie Riedweg was third after dressage; after cross country her position was taken by Andreas Dibowski (GER), who then finished the show jumping with two poles down, giving up his third place to Katrin Khoddam-Hazrati (AUT) with Oklahoma 2, coming up from her fifth place
Mariusz Kleniuk with the Polish-bred horse Winona was the highest ranked Polish athlete in the class, finishing in 11th.
The Strzegom Spring Open was the start of the 2019 eventing season in Poland with almost 250 riders from 21 countries, including China and Japan competing in six international and five national classes of different difficulty levels, and almost 350 horses have galloped through the hippodrome in Morawa during the four days of the show.
Mateusz Kiempa and Libertina Photo courtesy Leszek Wójcik
Mateusz Kiempa was the best in the CCI3*-S class with the 10-year-old Libertina. The Polish athlete took the lead after dressage, but exceeding the time allowed on the cross country course cost him his leading position and placed him as sixth. He took back his position in the show jumping, where he went clear, winning the whole class. Yoshiaki Oiwa (JPN) had another good result with second place on Bart L JRA, and third place went to the current Polish national champions, Jan Kamiński with the Polish-bred Senior.
The CCI2*-S class belonged to the Dutch riders. Myrle Schoones with Dimitri won the class, second place went to Bjinse Benderbosch with Vesuve d’Averyon and Antonia von Baath (GER) finished third with Freddie C. The best Polish athlete in the class was Wiktoria Knap, who finished 6th with Quintus 134.
The first place in the CCI1*-INTRO class went to Vanessa Bölting riding Baumann's Filou. Mateusz Kiempa with Pitagoras took the third place.
Two international classes for ponies were also played out during Strzegom Spring Open. Luna Richter (NED) with Rolsteds Viola won the CCIP1-S class, and the win in CCIP2-S went to Siw Kaas (NED) with Hesteklewa Be My Best Smokey.
