Eduardo Pereira de Menezes beat Kevin Jochems by 0.28 seconds in Valkenswaard’s five-star 1.50m jump-off, with Mark McAuley third.
Eduardo Pereira de Menezes needed 37.43 seconds to win at Valkenswaard, but the more useful number was 0.28.
That was the sliver separating the Brazilian and H5 Messentus PS from Kevin Jochems and Casquetto van de Helle in the five-star 1.50m class at the Longines Tops International Arena. In a nine-horse jump-off, fractions were the currency and Menezes spent his rather better than anyone else.
Nine clear rounds set the trap
The first round produced nine clears, enough to promise a proper contest against the clock without turning the jump-off into rush-hour traffic. It also removed several names who would ordinarily be expected to feature.
Emanuele Camilli and Chacarano PS, Abdel Saïd with Wathnan Bonne Amie and Daniel Deusser aboard Bingo Ste Hermelle all picked up faults and missed the decider. In a class of this level, reputation is useful right up until a pole comes down.
That left a varied group to attack the shortened course, with Mark McAuley first back aboard the nine-year-old Rossi vd Heffinck.
McAuley gives the class a number to beat
Going first in a jump-off is an awkward privilege: no one has shown you where the course will give time away, but everyone else gets to study your answer.
McAuley made a good job of it. He and Rossi vd Heffinck stayed clear in 39.68 seconds, a round quick enough to put the rest under immediate pressure. Clara Pezzoli and Hadewyn van’t Ravennest followed with another clear in 42.19, while Jérôme Guéry’s challenge faded with two rails.
Sandra Auffarth and Comcador OLD then posted 40.85 seconds. Solid, clean, competitive — and soon relegated by a Dutch round that changed the temperature of the class.
Jochems raises the pace, Menezes finds 0.28 seconds
Kevin Jochems and Casquetto van de Helle went clear in 37.71 seconds, slicing almost two seconds from McAuley’s mark and leaving the remaining riders with little room for decorative riding.
Then came Menezes and the 13-year-old H5 Messentus PS.
Their 37.43-second clear took 0.28 seconds off Jochems. On paper, that is barely enough time to register annoyance at a slow lift door. In a five-star jump-off, it was the whole result.
The significance was not merely that Menezes had gone fastest. He had done so while keeping every fence standing, matching the precision required for a double clear with enough pace to make the rest chase a target that refused to move.
The riders who followed had opportunities, but none found the combination of speed and accuracy needed to dislodge him.
A podium decided by speed, not survival
Jochems and Casquetto van de Helle finished second on 37.71 seconds, with McAuley and Rossi vd Heffinck third in 39.68. Auffarth and Comcador OLD took fourth in 40.85, while Pezzoli and Hadewyn van’t Ravennest completed the top five in 42.19.
All five leading combinations finished on zero faults through both rounds. The separation came entirely from the clock, which is about as clean a verdict as show jumping offers.
For Menezes, the win also carried the satisfaction of seeing H5 Messentus PS perform on Valkenswaard’s grass arena at precisely the right moment.
“To have my horses performing like they are at this beautiful grass arena is something special. It takes a lot of hard work behind wins like this and I couldn’t be more thankful to the team behind me including my family and everyone at H5 Stables.”
There is a useful bit of perspective in that. A 37.43-second jump-off looks fleeting from the outside; the work required to make it possible is rather less so.
The Grand Prix now becomes the bigger question
Menezes does not have long to admire the result. Attention now turns to the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Valkenswaard, scheduled for 1:45 pm tomorrow at the same arena, with Championship points and an LGCT Grand Prix victory at stake.
He was already looking ahead.
“I’m now fully focused on tomorrow’s LGCT Grand Prix. There is a strong field here and it’s going to be a big day of top sport.”
That shift matters. A five-star win is useful evidence of form, but the Grand Prix brings a different weight. Menezes arrives with a horse performing well, a winning round behind him and the small matter of 0.28 seconds having gone entirely his way.
At Valkenswaard, that was enough to turn a very good afternoon into the one everybody else had to chase.
