The Brabanthallen doesn't do ordinary. Sixty-five thousand fans across four days, an atmosphere that presses against you from every side, and on Sunday afternoon, a Rolex Grand Prix that distilled all of that electricity into something unforgettable. Richard Vogel arrived in 's-Hertogenbosch as European Champion and world number four. He left as the 2026 Rolex Grand Slam Live Contender, his second Major title in his pocket.

Louis Konickx's course was everything a Grand Prix course at this level should be. Of the 37 elite pairs who entered the Main Arena, 11 made it to the jump-off — a respectable but ungenerous clear rate that confirmed those who survived had earned their place. Five would prove themselves again under the pressure of the jump-off. Four of them would fall short of one rider.

Vogel drew an early number and committed fully. On United Touch S — the 14-year-old WESTF stallion by Untouched — he set a standard of 39.42 seconds that proved not just good, but untouchable. The stallion's enormous stride and natural scope through tight turns is something his competitors can see but cannot replicate. Thibeau Spits went clear for Belgium. Pieter Devos went clear. Henrik von Eckermann, the 2022 double World Champion, went clear. Martin Fuchs, last to go, went clear. Not one of them could match the clock.

"Winning a Rolex Major is incredibly special," Vogel said afterwards. "It's one of the most important competitions of the year and the atmosphere here at The Dutch Masters is always fantastic. United Touch S is an incredible horse — the way he can jump oxers out of such tight turns, I think he is the only horse who can do it like that. He is so athletic. I am absolutely over the moon."

This was Vogel's second Rolex Major, following his 2023 Geneva victory. He is now the Rolex Grand Slam Live Contender, meaning he must win back-to-back Rolex Grand Prix classes at CHIO Aachen and Spruce Meadows to claim the Grand Slam itself — the most coveted achievement in the sport. Two more Majors. A very long list of rivals who'll want to stop him.

€1,000,000 Rolex Grand Prix Podium:

Thursday — HeadFirst Group Prize, Best of Champions: The week opened in spectacular fashion with the always-theatrical horse rotation class, where horsemanship is stripped completely bare. Four top riders swap each other's horses in real time, and the arena becomes a showcase for the kind of feel and adaptability that results alone can never capture. It was home favourite Willem Greve who came out on top, the only rider to go faultless on all four horses. Vogel — riding with his usual clinical precision — posted the fastest combined time across all four rounds, nearly twelve seconds quicker than Greve overall, but a single fence down on the swapped horse left him in second. Julien Epaillard (FRA) was third, with Gilles Thomas (BEL) fourth, the Belgian having stepped in as a substitute after Henrik von Eckermann was unavailable. A popular result in front of the Dutch crowd, and a reminder that Greve's feel for horses across the spectrum is among the very best in the business.

Friday — J03: VDL Groep Prize (CSI5 1m55): The Friday night main class at the Brabanthallen produced a popular Dutch result, with Bas Moerings and the 13-year-old KWPN stallion Ipsthar winning in 38.91 seconds. Moerings — who had also finished 11th in the Rolex Grand Prix just two days later — showed strong form throughout the week. Sweden's Petronella Andersson was second with Odina van Klapscheut, and Harrie Smolders took third with his veteran partner Monaco.

VDL Groep Prize 1m55 Podium:

Saturday evening — J06: Audi Prize (CSI5 1m50): The night before the Grand Prix, Steve Guerdat delivered a masterclass in speed, scorching through the jump-off in 32.89 seconds aboard Lancelotta to take the Audi Prize. Harrie Smolders collected his second podium of the week, finishing second on Mr. Tac just 0.31 seconds back. Kevin Staut (FRA) was third with Vida Loca Z — the Frenchman clearly building momentum heading into the Sunday programme.

Audi Prize 1m50 Podium:

Sunday morning — J07: Borek Prize (CSI5 1m50 Winning Round): Just hours before the Rolex Grand Prix, Richard Vogel was back in the Main Stadium — and back in the winner's enclosure. Riding Phenyo van het Keysersbos, a different horse entirely from United Touch S, he won the Borek Prize in 35.02 seconds. It was Vogel's third victory of the week before he went out and claimed his fourth in the afternoon. Staut was second again, this time on Kannonqulan, with Hessel Hoekstra (NED) and VDL Mindset Es third.

Borek Prize 1m50 Podium:

It wasn't just the Grand Prix at Vejer de la Frontera that made this the most emotionally resonant result of the week. It was the horse who finished second.

Brazil's Stephan de Freitas Barcha won the CSI4* 1.55m Stephex Grand Prix by the narrowest of margins — 0.15 seconds, to be precise — on 13-year-old stallion Dinozo Imperio Egipcio, clocking 43.07 seconds in the jump-off. Three riders had gone clear in round one; all three returned, and Barcha delivered when it mattered most in a tight three-way showdown.

But the headline that lingered well beyond Sunday belonged to second place. Sanne Thijssen and the 20-year-old Con Quidam RB (Quinar Z x Cardino 5) crossed the finish line in 43.22 seconds — and that crossing was to be the last competitive act of an extraordinary career. Two days later, Thijssen announced his retirement.

"The fact that this chapter is coming to an end is indescribable," Thijssen wrote. "You always fought until the end, never let me down and never disappointed me. You always gave 200%. You taught me to fight and not to give up." She went further: "The fact that at the age of 20, you still jumped six clear rounds in a 4-star Grand Prix and came very close to winning, says enough about your fighting spirit."

The pair's CV together spans over a decade: team silver at the 2022 FEI World Championship in Herning, victory in the 2021 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final in Barcelona, and Grand Prix victories at the highest levels. To finish second in his final international appearance, at 20 years old, in a CSI4* Grand Prix against the world's best — sport rarely writes endings this perfect. A formal retirement ceremony is planned for April 26th at the Dutch Championships in Deurne.

Stephex Grand Prix 1.55m Podium:

Twenty-nine horses entered the Grand Prix Stadium at Desert International Horse Park on Saturday evening. Twenty-eight of them picked up faults. The lone exception was Kyle King and the 11-year-old Kayenne Z, who delivered the only clear round to win the $225,000 KASK & Vogel Grand Prix without the need for a jump-off.

There's no clock-stopping drama to describe here, no countdown of a six-horse decider. What there is, though, is perspective. King has been winning at the top of this sport for years. He's collected Grand Prix victories. But he had never, in his entire career, been the sole clear in a major class.

"I've been doing this a long time," King said afterwards. "I've had a lot of grand prix victories — and never ever have I been the only clear."

Course designer Peter Grant set a track that made 29 of the world's top four-star riders look for faults, and King and Kayenne Z simply found none. Second and third went to Skylar Wireman and Karl Cook respectively, both on four faults from round one. All-American podium. All-King performance.

$225,000 KASK & Vogel Grand Prix Podium:

Three-time Swiss Olympian and Sydney 2000 team silver medallist Beat Mändli has competed at WEF many times. He's been on the podium. He knows the venue, the ring, and the crowd. But a Saturday Night Lights Grand Prix victory had always eluded him — until March 14th.

Mändli cracked course designer Ken Krome's track aboard Qoachella, Grant Road Partners' Belgian-bred mare, to guarantee a jump-off after a clear-round drought stretching 20 starters. Five combinations followed him into the ring, setting up a six-horse decider. Of those six, only two went double-clear: Mändli first in 38.16 seconds, and Canada's Mario Deslauriers second in 38.71 seconds with Genial de B'Neville. Spain's Sergio Alvarez Moya posted the fastest jump-off time of 36.01 seconds on Quadrado but couldn't hold a fault, leaving him third.

$215,000 Horseware Ireland Grand Prix Podium:

Aaron Vale does what Aaron Vale does — find the clock in the jump-off and beat everyone to it. The Williston local and his 12-year-old grey gelding Gray's Inn clocked 44.06 seconds to claim the $200,000 Live Oak International Grand Prix. But the story of the class was the three riders lined up behind him.

Francis Derwin (IRL), Robert Blanchette (IRL), and Daniel Coyle (IRL) filled positions two through four, meaning Ireland put three of the top four in the same jump-off on American soil. With the FEI World Championships on the horizon later this year, it's a timely and emphatic reminder of the depth in the Irish programme. Vale wins it, but Ireland signals its intentions.

$200,000 Live Oak International Grand Prix Podium:

Nicolas Pizarro delivered the only double-clear of the 1.55m Grand Prix at Coapexpan, stopping the clock at 45.45 seconds to give Mexico a clean hometown win. Arturo Vallejo Stop finished second on Mon Faut-Tren and Luis Alejandro Plascencia O. was third with Enzo BJX — an all-Mexican podium in their own backyard, which the home crowd appreciated enormously.

Grand Prix 1.55m Podium:

Piergiorgio Bucci delivered the result the Italian crowd at La Caccia Scuderia in Bedizzole wanted most. The experienced Italian rider and Pallieter VD N.Ranch won the Grand Prix in 39.16 seconds, fending off Sweden's Angelica Augustsson Zanotelli (Tipperary, 39.46s) and Belgium's Seppe Wouters (Quito de Mariposa, 40.81s) in a tight three-way jump-off. Home wins don't come much more satisfying than this one.

Grand Prix H155 Podium:

Bryan Balsiger took the CSI3* Grand Prix at Polo Club Saint-Tropez in about as tight a finish as the sport allows. Five riders went clear in both rounds, and the top three were separated by just 0.30 seconds across the entire jump-off. Balsiger and Nora de Mariposa Pleville.CH led the way in 40.04 seconds, barely ahead of Colombia's Rene Lopez Lizarazo on Londina (40.33s) and Brazil's Marlon Modolo Zanotelli on Claire 186 (40.34s) — those last two split by a single hundredth of a second. Check the scoreboard twice before celebrating in St. Tropez.

Grand Prix 150cm Podium:

Italy's Emiliano Liberati gave the crowd at Arena Gibus exactly what they'd come for. Liberati and the 11-year-old Aruba Island blazed through the jump-off in 35.52 seconds — more than three-quarters of a second clear of Czech rider Ales Opatrny (Vivo de Muze PS, 36.35s). Switzerland's Elian Baumann completed the podium with Jour de Fete Del Cabanon in 37.53 seconds.

Grand Prix H155 Podium:

Con Quidam RB Retires: Just two days after his final international outing in Vejer de la Frontera, it became official: Sanne Thijssen's Con Quidam RB — a 20-year-old stallion who finished second in a CSI4* Grand Prix as his farewell act — is retired from competition. Their record together reads like a highlight reel: team silver at the 2022 FEI World Championship in Herning, a gold medal at the 2021 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final in Barcelona, and a string of Grand Prix victories at the highest levels across more than a decade together. A formal retirement ceremony is planned for April 26th at the Dutch Championships in Deurne. "When nothing seemed to be working, you were there," Thijssen wrote in tribute. There are very few exits in this sport as perfect as that.

147 Horses Home Safe from Doha: Following last week's Longines Global Champions Tour Doha cancellation, all 147 horses and staff have now returned safely to Europe via two dedicated horse flights. The event had been scheduled for Al Shaqab Equestrian Centre before being cancelled two days before the start due to regional security concerns. "We are incredibly grateful for the extraordinary efforts made to organise these flights at the earliest possible opportunity," an LGCT spokesperson said, adding that their attention now turns to Miami Beach for the 2026 season kick-off.

Landon de Nyze Secured for Mark Bluman: Aram and Diane Ampagoumian have purchased the 13-year-old Landon de Nyze (Comilfo Plus Z x Quadrillo), securing the ride for Colombia's Mark Bluman. The chestnut gelding was a cornerstone of Kent Farrington's 2023 Pan Am campaign — team gold and individual silver in Santiago — before a stint with Daniel Bluman. Since Mark took over the reins in December, the pair have already won a CSI5* Grand Prix qualifier at Thermal and finished second in the Modon Grand Prix at WEF. Bluman is targeting the FEI World Championships in Aachen with Landon. A serious combination with serious ambitions.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSIO5/CSI2 LLN Ocala 🇺🇸 March 17–22 | World Equestrian Center, Ocala, USA

Now in its third year at World Equestrian Center – Ocala, the Longines League of Nations returns with the world's top 10 nations competing for more than $1.4 million in total prize money. Reigning series champions Great Britain head the field, joined by Brazil making its return to the series lineup in 2026. The competition runs through the final week of the Winter Spectacular Show Series, with five-star Jumping featured throughout.

Competing nations:

🇧🇪 Belgium · 🇧🇷 Brazil · 🇫🇷 France · 🇩🇪 Germany · 🇬🇧 Great Britain · 🇮🇪 Ireland · 🇮🇹 Italy · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · 🇺🇸 United States

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSI5 Paris 🇫🇷 March 20–22 | Paris, France

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSI5/CSI2 Coapexpan 🇲🇽 March 18–22 | Coapexpan, Mexico

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSI4 Vejer de la Frontera 🇪🇸 March 17–22 | Andalucía Sunshine Tour, Spain

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSI4/CSI2 Wellington 🇺🇸 March 17–22 | Wellington International, Florida

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSI4 Gorla Minore 🇮🇹 March 18–22 | Italy

⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSI3 Arezzo 🇮🇹 March 17–22 | Italy

⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSI3 Oliva 🇪🇸 March 17–22 | Spain

⭐️⭐️⭐️ CSI3 Bedizzole 🇮🇹 March 18–22 | Italy

A week that delivered at the very top of the sport, and then found its emotional heart somewhere far below the podium.

The Dutch Masters alone — the Rolex Grand Prix, the Brabanthallen atmosphere, Vogel's total dominance, the Rolex Grand Slam story opening for the season — would make any week exceptional. Stack Kyle King's improbably lonely clear at Thermal alongside it, then Beat Mändli finally cracking the Saturday Night Lights code after all his years of trying, and an Irish armada turning Live Oak into a home-from-home. Add Bucci winning in front of his Italian crowd, Liberati blazing at Arena Gibus, and Balsiger winning a jump-off separated by hundredths. This was a week with genuine breadth — multiple continents, multiple levels, multiple storylines.

The emotional centrepiece is Con Quidam RB. That magnificent stallion, at 20 years old, producing a jump-off clear in a CSI4* Grand Prix as his very last act — and the words Sanne Thijssen found to say goodbye — is the kind of moment that reminds you why this sport matters beyond results and prize money. An exceptional week. Major season is open. 🏆

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