Thibault Philippaerts impresses in New York Nicola and Olivier Philippaerts win team competition At his very first participation in a Grand Prix of the Longines Global Champions Tour, Thibault Philippaerts finished in second place. In New York he stayed clear twice with his horse Pittmann van het Lilleveld. The win went to fellow Belgian Gilles Thomas, who was just 0.69 seconds faster than Philippaerts. Thanks to this fantastic result, Thibault also qualified for the big Longines Global Tour Final in Prague. It were three memorable days for the Philippaerts family in New York. On Friday, Nicola Philippaerts won the Longines Global Champions Tour of New York with H&M Que Sera, which also counted as the first round of the team competition. Brother Olivier Philippaerts and Nobel van de Vrombautshoeve followed with another strong performance. In the second round, Olivier Philippaerts and H&M Miro had one rail down, while Nicola Philippaerts and Gadget Mouche stayed clear. This resulted in the first win of the season for the Stockholm Hearts in the Global Champions League. And the success continued, as on Saturday evening Olivier Philippaerts and H&M Miro finished second in the Champagne Piaff Trophy. The highlight came on the final day. For the very first time, three Philippaerts brothers competed in a Grand Prix of the Longines Global Tour. With the stunning New York skyline as a backdrop, Thibault Philippaerts qualified for the jump-off and finished in second place. “I am already back home in Oudsbergen, but I still cannot believe what happened,” said Thibault Philippaerts. “For both Pittman and myself this was the very first GP in the Global Tour. Beforehand, we studied the course carefully and made a plan, which we executed perfectly. When your horse jumps like that, it feels easy as a rider. By the time it was my turn in the jump-off, some combinations had already gone clear. I thought: if I am here, I might as well go for it. I had nothing to lose, so I rode as fast as I could and ended up second. Unfortunately, it was not fast enough for the win, but this second place is fantastic. Pittman only joined us at the end of May. I had been following him for years and was always a bit crazy about him. I always believed in him, and now he does this at his very first show on this level. On Sunday, everything came together. I am proud of what we achieved together.” Nicola Philippaerts also looked back with satisfaction on his weekend in New York. “Olivier and I won the team competition with three inexperienced nine-year-olds. Gadget Mouche made his GP debut. H&M Que Sera competed in the Global Tour for the first time and immediately won the team competition. If you can achieve these results with young horses, you cannot be anything but happy. What our younger brother Thibault did was phenomenal. Honestly, we were hoping he would win, but once the emotion settled, we were of course very proud of his fantastic second place. Experiencing this with three brothers on the spot was very intense. It was his very first podium at the
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