In Stuttgart, Rik Hemeryck beats the local hero thanks to the spirit of his Navarro
November 13, 2025, author:
original article : https://grandprix.info/fr/117281/A-Stuttgart-Rik-Hemeryck-devance-le-heros-local-grace-a-la-fougue-de-son-Navarro/#
Riding at a very high speed with the spirited Navarro van het Eelshof, Rik Hemeryck won the major event on the first day of the CSI 5*-W in Stuttgart. The Belgian rider beat the crowd favorite, Richard Vogel, who was riding Phenyo van het Keysersbos. Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida completed the podium on his competitive Karonia.L, while Julien Épaillard got his weekend off to a good start by riding the excellent Fringan de Vesquerie to sixth place.
After two 1.45m classes, the riders competing in the CSI 5*-WC in Stuttgart met at 6pm for a 1.50m contest. This competition was unusual : it was judged on a Table C, a rather original choice for the first major event of such a competition. In fact, the German course designer, Christa Jung, had devised a rather classic course, with twelve obstacles for fifteen efforts and no particular options, except at the approach to oxer number seven, where it was possible to turn either in front of or behind number ten.
Like Julien Épaillard, it was the riders who competed in the second half of the event who dominated the rankings.
Just ahead of him, Rik Hemeryck took advantage of the enthusiasm of his Navarro van het Eelshof to set the reference time of 61.06 seconds. Very lively on the ground, the bay, back in action after having to take two breaks over the last twelve months, enabled his Belgian rider to win, with no competitor managing to beat his time.
“In September 2024, Navarro finished third in the Belgian championship, then he got injured, and we really took our time with him,” explained the winner. “He came back in the spring and won a 1.50m class at the CSI 5* in Fontainebleau, but we didn’t feel he was quite in shape, so we decided to give him a second break. Since his return, he has jumped in two competitions in Lier, then competed in one event at the CSI 4* in Liège, and two at the CSI 4* in Maastricht, where he made a single small mistake at 1.50m. Today’s event was ideal for him, because I always have to ride him in a forward motion.”
Tomorrow, Rik Hemeryck will ride his powerful Inouï du Seigneur in the 1.55m class scheduled for 5 p.m., as well as in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Today, he beat local Stuttgart hero Richard Vogel, who was riding Phenyo van het Keysersbos. The couple clocked a time of 61.39 seconds and received loud applause from the large crowd already gathered in the stands of the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle on Thursday.
Third place went to Portugal’s Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida, who rode his competitive Karonia.L and crossed the finish line in 61.59 seconds, compared to 62.16 seconds for Sweden’s Peder Fredricson with Vroom de la Pomme SV. Riding the unusual Ballerine du Vilpion, Roger-Yves Bost knocked down fence number five, bringing his total time to 66.2 seconds, which put him in twentieth place. Kevin Staut and Kannonqulan did two faults, while Marc Dilasser chose to withdraw before the end of his course after Skip Intro, who had never competed in an international 1.50m event before, knocked down several bars.
