Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt won tonight’s second leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NED) in a thrilling three-way jump-off against the clock. But it is runner-up, Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer, who holds the advantage going into Sunday’s final competition which will decide the fate of the 2011/2012 title.

As the going got tough this evening, the cream rose to the top, and clear rounds proved very elusive indeed. Weishaupt’s fellow-countryman,  Marco Kutscher, was the only other starter to find the key to the course set by Louis Konickx, but reigning Olympic champion, Canada’s Eric Lamaze, was unlucky to miss out on the final barrage when stopping the clock just 500ths of a second off the pace for a single first-round time penalty to finish fourth and is in serious contention going into the closing stages.

MASTERPIECE
Another masterpiece from Konickx not only tested rider’s judgement and nerve, but the pure scope of the horses tonight. The course was relentless from start to finish, with the double of big oxers at four, the vertical with water-tray at five, and the dog-leg line to fence 10 all taking their toll. Once again the Dutchman gave them plenty to look at and think about, with another unusual wall, narrow and shaped like an inverted triangle, at fence nine, but it was the triple combination at fence 11 that proved the real bogey of the class. Riding off a left-hand turn, riders needed plenty of momentum coming down to the opening vertical in order to make the two-stride distance to the following oxer of white poles and, time and again, this hit the floor as horses struggled to reach the back bar. Second-placed Kutscher explained the challenge at this fence which fell for 17 different riders tonight – more than half of those on the start-list.

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