Marc Houtzager wins in front of his home crowd in Amsterdam

With just a few weeks to go before the final of the Longines World Cup Jumping, which will be held in Las Vegas in April, the stakes are tightening for riders wishing to validate their tickets for the major event of the indoor season. On Sunday, the twelfth of the fourteen stages for the Western European League allowed Dutchman Marc Houtzager to clinch his place in the second final of his career. The forty-nine-year-old Dutchman won in Amsterdam thanks to Sterrehof’s Dante, a twelve-year-old mare that he managed to lead perfectly in a nine-man jump-off.

“It’s incredible to win here in Amsterdam! […] My mare is extremely respectful, I don’t even have to pay attention to the bars. At the start of the double, I had seen the distance from a distance and it was indeed extremely long. I also came a little to the left, but Dante did his best. I also took a stride from one to two, which my eight competitors didn’t do. Winning in front of my home crowd is exceptional,” analysed the winner of the event after the awards ceremony.

A time at the head of the event thanks to Monaco, the horse owned by Jennifer Gates, daughter of one of the richest men in the world Bill Gates, Harrie Smolders finally had to bow for a little less than a second. For Belgium, Pieter Clemens completed the leading trio thanks to his son of Quintendez 2, Quintini. He himself beat his fellow countryman Niels Bruynseels, perched on the formidable Gancia de Muze.