Lara de Liedekerke-Meier reportedly became the first Belgian rider to win a CCI5* on Sunday when she and her homebred Hooney d’Arville jumped double-clear to rise to the top spot in the Longines Luhmühlen CCI5*-L (Germany).
Great Britain earned first and second with, respectively, Tom McEwen (CHF Cooliser) and Yasmin Ingham (Rehy DJ)—the latter jumping from 28th after dressage by adding no faults to that score in either jumping phase.
De Liedekerke-Meier won the hearts of the Luhmühlen crowd with her obvious love for her mother’s homebred 11-year-old Belgian Sport Horse mare (Vigo D’Arsouilles STX—Nooney Blue, Jet Set Du Rezidal). Having steadily moved up the leaderboard from sixth after dressage to third after cross-country, the pair went clear in the final show jumping phase to secure a final score of 35.6. Happy, but not expecting to take the win, she retired to the warm-up for a quiet moment with “Hooney.”
When the news hit that both the riders in front of her had trouble—including dressage and cross-country leaders Ros Canter and Izilot DHI, who had two rails—and she’d won the first five-star of her career, her first hug was reserved for her mare.
“It’s hard to take in,” she said. “My horse is an incredible athlete. I never thought there would be a chance to win the five-star today. I just knew I had a good horse and wanted to jump the best round that I could. Today was our day. I just managed to put everything together. Thanks to my team and thank you Luhmühlen for organizing a show of this caliber. All the public was amazing.”
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She was advised that it would be risky to attempt a five-star so close to the Paris Olympic Games, she said, but that risk paid off: “I won five-star, so I think it’s a good boost of confidence!”
See complete results here.
Watch their winning show jumping round, courtesy of Horse & Country TV:
