Returning first was the round one trailblazer, Santiago Lambre (MEX), and his own Chacco Blue II. They finished with one rail for sixth place. An eight-fault performance followed from Yuri Mansur (BRA) and his own Vitiki, which ended in eighth place. Swiss rider Beat Mändli and Dsarie, owned by Grant Road Partners GmbH, had eight faults in the second round as well to finish in seventh place. It was a heart-breaking four-fault effort for Jessica Springsteen (USA), who challenged for the lead but had a rail at the final Rolex oxer, ending up in fifth place with Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, owned by Stone Hill Farm.
The first double clear in the jump-off came from the next rider in, Harrie Smolders (NED), and Bingo du Parc, owned by Copernicus Stables LLC. They set the time to beat at 36.74 seconds, which would hold up for third place.
A third-place finish was an impressive performance for Bingo du Parc, a 10-year-old Selle Français gelding by Mylord Carthago *HN x Diamant de Semilly, showing in its third five-star competition with Smolders.
“Today he did a fantastic job,” remarked Smolders. “It was a serious test for him, a big class. I think we have seen several horse-and-rider combinations that we will see back in the [2021 Tokyo] Olympics. I still feel some places where I can improve, so hopefully in the future I can come close or beat the gentleman (Deusser) in front of me. But I am very pleased with the performance of my horse and I am looking forward to the future.”
Coming in just two-tenths of a second faster, Daniel Bluman (ISR) lowered the leading time to 36.54 seconds riding Gemma W, owned by Blue Star Investments and Over the Top Stables. Their fault-free performance would land them in second place.