Vrieling is hero of Helsinki — Great Britain’s Whitaker fourth

On Sunday afternoon, Finland’s capital Helsinki also became one of the world’s Show Jumping capitals as elite horses and riders gathered for the second qualifier in the regional league after Oslo’s opening leg. In front of a big crowd at the city’s Ice Hall, the Dutch rider Jur Vrieling topped a podium rounded out by Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann and Mary Lou 194, and  Brazilian Marlon Modolo with Celena VDL. Britain’s Robert Whitaker just missed out on the top three, finishing fourth with Catwalk IV. But the British champion definitely helped his cause with the strong result. 

Big names were out in full force for the World Cup qualifer and Horse Show in Helskini: Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat; Germany’s Daniel Deusser, Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet; Ireland’s Shane Breen and Bertram Allen; Sweden’s Peder Fredricson; the Netherlands’ Maikel van der Vleuten… Just a sample of the world-class riders in Scandinavia as the 13-stop series continued to gather steam. Riders’ seven best results will count for the Individual standings in the qualifying.

But in the end, it was Vrieling who triumphed over the large field, picking up €42,500 in prize money and of course valuable points for his Paris qualifying campaign. Indeed, nine horse-and-rider pairs went through to the tie-breaking jump-off round in Helsinki, with Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann trailing Vrieling on the faulltess Mary Lou 194. Brazil’s Marlon Modolo Zanotelli rounded out the podium with Celena VDL, in a time of 38.60 seconds. And Britain’s Whitaker was the fourth to get a clear round with his 14-year-old partner, stopping the clock in 39.27s and earning a paycheque of 17,000 euros for their efforts. Longines FEI World Cup qualifying for Western Europe now heads south to Italy, to Verona, at the end of the month.