Joe Clee 2nd in Mechelen World Cup
Wednesday 31 December 2014
Joe Clee and Utamaro d’Ecaussines, the 10 year old bay stallion owned by Ludwig Criel, finished 2nd in the Mechelen leg of the Longines FEI World Cup yesterday.
The course which had been designed by Lucien Somers of Belgium had been a testing one which saw only nine of the almost forty starters jump clear in the first round. First to go in the jump off, Joe and Utamaro looked particularly impressive when they challenged those to follow by jumping clear within a very fast time of 34.42 seconds.
Having held on to the lead right until the very end, the title was snatched from him at the last minute when French rider Simon Delestre with Qlassic Bois Margot managed to shave some time off the clock by finishing in 32.42 seconds with all fences standing.
Earlier in the week Joe had won the International Open Stallion 1.45m class with Utamaro d’Ecaussines and 2nd in the Cavalor 1.40m speed class with Vedet de Muze ET, a 9 year- old bay stallion also owned by Ludwig Criel . Guy Williams and Caroline Philips 10 year-od bay gelding took 3rd place in the same class.
Chloe Aston from Hertfordshire finished 2nd in the Under 25 International Grand Prix with her mothers 12 year-old bay gelding Kolibri Classic. They also held the same position in the line up on the opening day in the Nekkerhal 1.40m speed class.
William Whitaker from Yorkshire took 2nd in the Carlsberg 1.45m jump off class, which preceeded the World Cup qualifier, with Mersley Chakotay, a 10 year-old grey gelding owned by Michael Whitaker.
Full results for all classes at Mechelen can be found on the following link http://eventcontent.hippoonline.de/980/980zeitplanENG.htm?style=longines
