Willem Greve wins the Neumünster 2026 Grand Prix

In view of the fact that Willem Greve was already the fastest in the first round with Candy Luck Z, he had assumed that he would be the last rider to go into the second round against the clock. When he realized that the order would remain the same as in the normal course, he and Candy Luck had to quickly switch from walk-stroll to jump-and-run mode. No problem for the eleven-year-old Comme il faut daughter. As the third pair, the two delivered a lesson in what good show jumping looks like. The clock stopped after 34.07 seconds. There were seven more pairs to come, but anyone who saw this ride knew that the competition would be tough.

International podium in the Neumünster Grand Prix

And so it was. One pair after another struggled in vain to deny the Dutchman his first victory in the VR Classics Grand Prix. Nobody got past him. Swiss rider Christoph Könemann and his Carridam son Coredo came closest with a time of 35.97 seconds. Könemann was in Neumünster for the first time and realized that this is the ideal show for his ten-year-old gelding, who was Hanoverian Show Jumping Champion as a four- and five-year-old and recorded the biggest success of his career to date with today’s third place: “It’s great to ride in front of such a backdrop and it’s perfect for my horse. He needs the adrenaline, it gives him wings.”

Third place was a minor sensation, because the 22-year-old Colombian Marco Peixoto Ferreira Filho, who set up his own business in the south of the Netherlands four months ago and previously trained with Manuel Fernández Saro, rode the first 1.55 meter jumping competition of his life yesterday in the Championat and today was the first Grand Prix at this level. But he can rely on his 14-year-old Zangersheide gelding Everest v’t Hof by Eversem Z, a son of Christian Ahlmann’s Epleaser. “I was glad that I kept my nerve. He felt super fit and I thought, don’t mess it up now!”

He didn’t, on the contrary. In 36.84 seconds, the two delivered a spotless performance.

Substitute rider

Willem Greve has often competed in the Holstenhallen, but he has never won the Grand Prix. “I’ve already been carried out here by the paramedics and finished second in the Grand Prix, but it wasn’t enough to win,” says the Dutchman, who also speaks perfect German and English.

He hasn’t been to Neumünster for a long time now, but in the anniversary year of the Holsten Indoor Event it fitted in well with his plans, because unlike so many of his colleagues who ride in Arabia, Florida etc., he wanted to stay in the arena until the World Cup Final, and Neumünster was the perfect show for the eleven-year-old Candy Luck Z. The World Cup is not an issue for her, as she is not Greve’s horse. He is only in the saddle as a substitute because her actual rider Alessandra Volpi (USA) has been injured. “I was asked to keep her in good shape,” says Greve. He could hardly do the job any better.

Enthusiastic Holstein offspring

The atmosphere in the packed Holstenhalle was already on the verge of boiling over in the first round. No wonder, the Holstein riders delivered like perhaps never before. Six of the ten pairs in the second round are at home in the far north, four of them from the U30 generation: Romy Rosalie Tietje (20) on Cascadino, Linn Hamann (27) with Dumbo, Mathies Rüder (20) with Carlesta and Johanna Beckmann (22) in the saddle on Queen Frieda. Their two compatriots, on the other hand, belong to the experienced guard: Rolf-Göran Bengtsson (SWE) on Caillan, competing for his home country Sweden, and Lars Bak Andersen from Elmshorn with Leviathan HS.

Closest to the top three were Tietje and Cascadino, who represented the German colors at the European Young Riders Championships in 2025. They finished fourth with another clear round in the jump-off. Right behind them was Linn Hamann with her powerful Diamant de Semilly son Dumbo, also with no faults.

Tietje’s European Championship team-mate Mathies Rüder had a pole down in the jump-off and finished eighth. Johanna Beckmann and Queen Frieda also had a knockdown and were a little slower than the former young European champion in the bush, coming ninth. Lars Bak Andersen finished seventh with the slowest clear round against the clock. Bengtsson conceded a fault at the very first jump, followed by another, placing tenth.

You can find all the results here.