Luna van ’t Ruytershof Z surprises
Nicola Philippaerts and H&M Luna van ‘t Ruytershof Z won the Belgian Championship Jumping of 2022. It’s Nicola’s second Belgian title. In 2017, he already won the Belgian Championship with H&M Chilli Willi. Thibeau Spits (King van Essene) finished second, Jordy Van Massenhove (Gaga E d'Augustijn) completed the stage as third.
For the second time in his career, Nicola can name himself the Champion of Belgium. “Winning a championship is and always will be special. Especially because you only get that chance once a year. If you win, you’re the Belgian champion. If you don’t, you’ll have to wait for another year. Being champion for the second time is really special for me”, says Nicola.
Championships are a bit peculiar and you mostly need some good luck. Only occasionally, there’s a surprise in the end. However, we cannot call Nicola a surprising winner. From his horse H&M Luna van ’t Ruytershof Z on the other side, we must say it’s a surprising champion. “I remember her entrance at our stables last year. A rather small horses that jumped 1,30m at that time. Only one year later, she’s a champion. She made such a big progress last year with this victory as cherry on the cake, for now. She also performed really well at Sentower Park last week. And she was really good again this week, but I never dared to hope to become Belgian Champion with her.”, says Nicola. “ Her mentality is outstanding. She always wants to give the best of herself. Also, she has lots of blood. If she’ll continue this way, she’ll be very promising for the future. I hope to ride her this winter together with Katanga v/h Dingeshof. That would be nice.”
