Ilusionata Van 't Meulenhof shines in Sopot!
With a 7th and a 9th place, Niels and Ilusionata Van 't Meulenhof already left a strong impression two weeks ago at the Tops International Arena in Valkenswaard. Last week Niels traveled with the Belgian Team to Poland for the Nations Cup of Sopot and there Ilusionata confirmed her good form with a brilliant 3rd place in the CSIO5* GP.
To warm up, Niels and Ilusionata had already competed in a 1.45m class on Thursday during the opening day. They then jumped a calm and clear round and eventually left the ring with 1 penalty point for exceeding the time. But Niels knew Ilusionata was in good shape and counted on her for the CSIO5* GP a day later. After a clear first round, they were among the 13 best combinations that managed to qualify for the second round. In that decisive round, Niels and Ilusionata once again kept all the poles in the cups and their finish time of 48.63 seconds earned them a nice 3rd place.
Furthermore also Gancia de Muze was part of 'Team Niels' in Sopot. Gancia already jumped a clear round in the 1.40m opening class on Thursday and on Saturday there was a 6th place in the 1.45m class.
Because the CSIO5* GP already took place on Friday, the final day on Sunday was dominated by the Nations Cup and the first round went smoothly for the Belgian Team. Besides Niels with Delux Van T&L also Jos Verlooy with Varoune and Nicola Philippaerts with Katanga v/h Dingeshof managed to deliver a clear round. Only Pieter Devos with Claire Z ran into 4 penalty points in the first round. As a result, Belgium was in the lead with a score of 0 penalty points, together with Germany, Ireland and Great Britain, so they were still fighting hard to ensure another Belgian victory after Rome.
But in the second round, unfortunately, they couldn't hold on to that perfect score. Jos and Nicola again managed to keep it clear, but when first Pieter collected 4 faults and then Niels 8 faults, they came to a total of 4 faults and our country had to be satisfied with the 2nd place.