Marriët Smit-Hoekstra is clearly in top form. The Frisian rider, who has already claimed several wins this season, added another impressive victory on Friday morning during Jumping Indoor Maastricht. With her fast and agile Wadro’s Maggie May, she managed to stay ahead of the competition in the Ricoh Document Center Prize.
“My horse is so fast — sometimes I really have to be careful not to focus too much on that. Yesterday I made a misjudgment myself, and I was quite upset about it. This morning I meditated for a bit and thought: today we’re going to do it right!” said the rider with a big smile afterward. She is full of praise for her eight-year-old mare Wadro’s Maggie May: “She was trained by her breeders as a young horse and came to me when she was six. She knows exactly where the pole is, has an incredible attitude, and always wants to work for me. If I do my job right, we’ll easily end up in the top three.”
Enjoying the moment
“On the way here I said to my groom: we’re just going to Maastricht — how special is that! It’s truly one of my favorite cities. I never imagined I’d get the chance to ride here. And now that I’m here, I’m enjoying it so much. It’s exciting, but above all incredibly fun.”
The biggest challenge came from a fellow Dutch rider: Bas Moerings, with his only seven-year-old mare Nunblisther, was just two-tenths of a second slower and had to settle for second place. Thursday’s winner, Qatari rider Bassem Mohammed, guided his ten-year-old stallion Popeye de Tamise to third. The top five were completed by Germany’s Katrin Eickermann with Iron Dames Sascinora NRW and American rider Lucas Porter with Lingulio O.
Photos by Digishots
