Olivier just missed out on his first victory ever in the Longines Global Champions Tour last weekend with H&M Miro. He got to ride the jump-off, together with three other combinations and managed to jump clear. Nevertheless, he was 0.28 seconds to slow to beat Pieter Devos. Anyway, his performance helped him up towards a fifth place in the overall ranking after the eleventh leg (out of fifteen). In the Longines Global Champions League, the Stockholm Hearts are still in the lead, after again a clear round on Saturday for Olivier and H&M Miro.
Now that the World Equestrian Games in Herning came to an end, the Longines Global Champions Tour and Longines Global Champions League recommenced. The eleventh leg took place in London. Olivier rode Friday’s team competition with Le Blue Diamond van ‘t Ruytershof, while Lily Attwood brought Calvaro's Up To Date in the ring. Saturday’s second round was for H&M Miro. “We missed our start on Friday as a team. Unfortunately, Lily gathered some faults, but that can happen in this sport. We knew then already that we would loose many points. New day, new start, so on Saturday I delivered a clear round, Lily got one fence down. We were in the lead with a big difference at the start of this leg, but the runner-up came close with seven points. There ain’t nothing to do about that. I’m keeping my fingers crossed so that the can get a bigger difference again in Valkenswaard”, says Olivier.
Only a few hours after the Global Champions League, Olivier and H&M Miro step in the ring again to participate in the Grand Prix of the Longines Global Champions Tour. Again, they rode two spotless rounds. “Well, I should have won”, says Olivier. “Penultimate to start in the jump-off, Miro did an amazing job, until I took one step too much before the last fence. A rider’s mistake. If I didn’t do that, I would have won my first Global Tour. Not for now though… I won’t forget Miro’s blood shape. Third in the Global Tour of Monaco, second in Londen. Fingers crossed to continuing this way, so I’ll finally win a Global Champions Grand Prix."
This week, the whole Philippaerts family participates at the Stephex Masters in Wolvertem. Olivier and Nicola are in for the CSIO 5*. Ludo and Thibault ride the CSIO 3*, while Anthony takes his chance in the CSIO 2*.
