Belgium’s Francois Mathy made a winning return to the Equerry Bolesworth International Horse Show’s speed class in the International Arena today on stallion, Casanova de L’Herse

The 1.45-metre class, sponsored by Voltaire Design, saw the top four combinations separated by just 44 hundredths of a second with Francois claiming a top prize of £7,100.

First out into the arena was Robert Smith who set a scorching early pace, clocking 54.86 seconds aboard his consistent campaigner Ilton. Robert held the lead until after the first break when it was the turn of Francois to tackle the CSI4* course on board Casanova de L’Herse.

27 riders had campaigned the course prior to Francois round, including Joe Clayton, the young Jack Whitaker, Harriet Nuttall and Shane Breen all of whom were unable to top Robert Smith’s lead.

An impressive display of pace and precision saw them post a winning time of 54.69 to take a lead they never lost, despite Irish star Billy Twomey and Ardcolum Duke threatening it on 54.89.

I am very happy,” Francois said. “The horse jumped great and I was lucky enough to be quicker than the others. The horse has been winning a lot, and is very competitive. I was quite tight in the beginning of the course, and you know you can always be quicker. It was not a course where you would really open up your horse. You could make time in the turns, not so much in the long gallops, and a very nice course.”

USA rider Michael Hughes with the Canaletto S mare, Paloma closed the class which featured 56 horse and rider combinations from around the globe.

Robert Smith managed to hold his second place, with Ireland’s Billy Twomey in third.