Harrie Smolders jumps to sublime victory in Basel

Harrie Smolders jumps to sublime victory in Basel
The 1.50m Longines Ranking class in Basel saw a total of 51 combinations at the start on Saturday evening. It was a hard course set by Frank Rothenberger and his team. The 13-obstacle counting class saw only a handful clear pairs in the first round.

 

France's Olivier Robert was the first to keep the wood in the spoons. Robert and the 14-year-old Tresor du Remon-daughter, Quenelle du Py had to wait until number 32 on the starting list, Harrie Smolders to secure the jump-off. Smolders secured the second round aboard Capital Colnardo (by Colman).

Eventually is was a jump-off with 6 combinations. Harrie Smolders continued  his form of the past year and jumped to glory aboard the 13-year-old Holsteiner sire. After a clear finish in 39.03 seconds the Dutch show jumping rider stayed ahead on local jumping legend Janika Sprunger and the 10-year-old Ninyon (by Nintender). Sprunger stayed ahead of compatriot Werner Muff who tacked up Pollendr (by Polytraum) for this class.

Marcus Ehning and Pret a Tout (by Hiram Chambertin) already claimed a class this week. Today they settled for the fourth spot with one jumping fault in the jump-off. Olivier Robert completed the top five.

 

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