March 4—Doha, Qatar

Gregory Wathelet’s been on a roll since he arrived at the CHI Al Shaqab, already earning a second- and a third-place ribbon. Today he upped the ante by winning the €154,000 1.55-meter CSI***** to score a major payday.

Gregory Wathelet and Citizenguard Taalex. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

Wathelet put the pedal down for the second half of the jump-off to outrun a solid second round by an enthusiastic Omer Karaevli on Dadjak ter Puttenen, with pathfinder Kevin Staut taking third on Elky van het Indihof HDC.

Dadjak ter Puttenen and Omer Karaevli celebrated after a great round. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

“My horse went great from the start,” said Wathelet, who rides for Belgium. “I knew it was hard, but I knew my horse could do I and go fast. I wasn’t crazy to [fences] 1, 2, 3, 4, but then I took some risk.

“I know it’s not the best preparation for tomorrow[’s €500,000 class] but it worked today,” he continued.

Gregory Wathelet and Citizenguard Taalex raced through the timers to win. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

Wathelet just got the ride on Citizenguard Taalex a few months ago, and they didn’t start out leading the victory gallop. His countryman Constant van Paesschen had been riding the Bavarian stallion (Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve—Alexa, Alexis Z) and it took Wathelet a little while to get him used to his ride.

“I used him two or three small shows to know him,” he said. “The first big show I did was at Mechelen CSI***** [Germany] which was not so good I needed to build him a bit in my way and give him some confidence because the horse is really sensitive. He lacked confidence, unlike today. The second big show we did was in Zurich CSI***** [Switzerland] and he won the grand prix. The next week he had the first jump down in the World Cup in Bourdeaux [France], but he felt really good. And today he felt really perfect. I hope he’s going a good way, and the future will say.”

To get the horse in winning form, he went back to basics. 

“I had to get him more compact, more using his back,” he continued. “The problem was he was a bit stiff, high in the neck and he wasn’t used to using his back in a good way, and he was coming down on the second pole. He was careful, but sometimes he would jump high and not far enough. And then I had to work a bit on his confidence . He’s already changed a lot and it’s making things easier. I can’t say it’s already perfect.”

Citizenguard Taalex will have another chance to prove his skills tomorrow in the marque class of the competition tomorrow. 

Did You Know?

Wathelet’s name might ring especially familiar to U.S. show jumping fans for a couple reasons, and not because he regularly shows on the U.S. circuit. He rode both McLain Ward’s Rothchild and Beezie Madden’s Cortes ‘C’ in their early years, and currently rides Oh d’Eole, the horse Ward was riding when he broke his leg back in 2012.

Or maybe you saw the video that went viral of Wathelet jumping a clear round on Conrad de Hus (a stallion!) who lost his bridle mid-round and still managed a clear round. That horse was just sold to the U.S.’s Double H farm for Quentin Judge.

Check out more photos from today in the gallery, and catch up on yesterday’s action here.