“Luck was on our side today,” Belgium’s Constant Van Paesschen said after his 12-year-old mare Diaz du Thot (Ready Boy des Forets x Diams du Grasset) kicked off Autumn MET I 2025 with a win in Sunday’s CSI2* 1.45m CHG – Construcciones Hispano Germanas S.A – Grand Prix in Oliva Nova, Spain. “Diaz du Thot jumped super again. She is a horse you can really count on; she’s a trier and a fighter. I’ve had her since the end of her sixth year, and she has always been a winner,” Constant said.

Crossing the finish line in 43.33 seconds in a jump-off between eighteen horse-and-rider combinations, Van Paesschen and Diaz du Thot took the win ahead of Chad Fellows (GBR) and Continent 7 (Cordess 2 x Contendro I) in second in 46.35. While his father Stanny celebrated the British win at the Longines League of Nations™ Final in Barcelona, Constant could chime into the family-success with his victory in Oliva Nova. “It has been a great day for the family,” Constant said. 

“The course was nice,” Constant detailed about the track set by Christian Wiegand (GER). “It’s always very difficult for a course designer to build, especially here, in a two-star – you can’t build too big, because you need to respect what’s written in the schedule, however, at the same timeyou have a lot of very good riders with very good horses on the start list. It is a tough job to build a two-star Grand Prix here, and I thought the course today was nice.”

 “In the jump-off, I was in the middle of the pack, and I knew that I could catch the leading time,” he continued. “However, I also knew that there were some very quick riders coming after me as well, like Jérôme [Guery] and Julien [Epaillard]. I knew I was going to have to take risks. In the end, I was lucky; I could have had one down on the last fence.”

“I was off for the full months of May and June as well as a half of July,” Constant – who broke his foot in April – explained about the year he has had. “My horses have had a lot of time off this year.”

A Dutch trio completed the top five in Sunday’s Grand Prix that kicked off the Autumn tour at Centro Ecuestre Oliva Nova: Lars Kersten (NED) and Barny Blue 3 (Balou du Rouet x Chacco-Blue) placed third with a time of 46.53, while Hessel Hoekstra (NED) and Comthago VDL (Comme Il Faut 5 x Carthago Z) finished fourth in 47.31 and Marc Houtzager (NED) aboard Mereusa (Comme Il Faut 5 x Toulon) fifth in 47.79. 

The Autumn MET I continues next week and runs through to October 19, followed by Autumn MET II in November and Autumn MET III in December. 

Click here for full results.

The photos may be used only in relation to this press release and must include
photo credit to © Hervé Bonnaud / www.1clicphoto.com.