Lauren Hough and Waterford at Mechelin. Photo courtesy of Jumping Mechelin Press.
Lauren Hough was the only woman, the only American, and the only winner in the Land Rover Masters at Jumping Mechelen in The Netherlands Tuesday night, beating out tough competition on an even tougher course.
Nicola Phillippaerts aboard Chilli Willi and Olivier Philippaerts on H&M Forever d’Arco Ter Linden qualified for the jump-off alongside Lauren and her 13-year-old gelding Waterford, but none were able to finish the course cleanly.
Olivier made smart work of the first round, but in the second round brought down two fences to ultimately finish in third. Nicola took a bit more time to get around, but still added a rail to his time of 36.25 seconds.
Lauren and Waterford too couldn’t help but bring a rail home with them in the jump-off, but thanks to a blazing final time of 30.24 – more than six full seconds ahead of Nicola – they were able to capture the win and for their efforts take home a brand new Land Rover.
Wednesday will feature two Table A classes as well as a Six Bars class for the FEI riders, more classes Thursday, and finally a Longines FEI World Cup Jumping qualifier Friday night.
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