Paardensportcentrum Lichtenvoorde regularly organizes a national Grand Prix at 1.40m or 1.45m level to give riders the chance to get their horses used to that step up or to let Grand Prix horses jump just a notch lower after a busy season. For Frank Schuttert, this weekend was important with an eye on Jumping Amsterdam, but he was not much wiser.
Frank Schuttert started no less than three horses in the 1.45m Grand Prix on Saturday evening, January 6. “Three very different horses that I have had in my stable for a long time and of which I have a lot of expectations. They have already run many 1.40m courses, but no or very few ranking classes yet. This is a nice stepping stone for that. But the biggest reason is that besides my two best horses I can take a third horse to Jumping Amsterdam. After this show I would decide, but I do not know yet,” laughs the rider from Ommen.
The fact is that Frank Schuttert was the last starter in the jump-off to win the 1.45m Grand Prix with Luckey SR Z (l’Arc de Triomphe), after he already rode double clear and smoothly to a fourth and fifth prize with Katoulon (Toulon) and Wezenbeg’s Panama van ‘t Roosakker (Echo van ‘t Spieveld). “I didn’t even go here with the idea of winning the Grand Prix, but when the time came I went with the battle anyway,” he said.
As a result, the successful Tani Joosten dropped to second place with her impressive Galdal me (Zambesi) and Kars Bonhof finished third with his new trump card Ugano Z (Untouched). “This was only our second show together,” he says. “Team Nijhof bought him with some other horses from an owner who unfortunately was struggling with illness. I already knew Ugano Z, because Noelle Klokman rode him here at Jumping de Achterhoek still in the 1.45m Medium Tour final. I am happy with him. The hope is that he will soon be my ‘second’ horse for the big international shows,” says Kars Bonhof.
With fifteen competitors in the 1.45m Grand Prix, the field of competitors was a bit disappointing in quantity, but there was enough quality and eight came back in the jump-off, including home riders Melvin Greveling (7th) and Micky Morssinkhof (8th). Many riders who like to ride in Vragender start internationally in Groningen. “Also a very nice competition,” Frank Schuttert says. “But this program suited me better. Now I brought about nine horses these two days and I could start all three in the 1.40m on Friday and in the 1.45m on Saturday,” says Frank Schuttert.
Remco Been emerged as the most successful rider of the PSC New Year’s Jumping, of which Jack Meuleman is permanent course builder. The stable rider of Hank Melse won with Cookie T (Comme il Faut) the 1.40m direct in time on Friday with 37 participants and was second in the 1.30m behind Ester Damman-Blekkink. In the 1.35m on Saturday, Remco Been was 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and he also won the 1.30m.
Auteur/pictures: Wendy Scholten
