AGAINST THE ODDS: ‘I SHOULD REALISE IT’S A BIG ACHIEVEMENT’

LARA DE LIEDEKERKE-MEIER (42nd for Belgium), had her second child, Arthur, just three months ago.

“I wanted to come here, but in a way I was always hoping the vet was going to find an issue — I knew I was not ready to compete as well as I want to,” she said. “I didn’t want to come here and do less well than in the past, but I should realise it’s a big achievement.”

Lara’s ride, Alpaga D’Arville, is a home-bred and a half-brother to the mare she rode at the 2010 WEG in Kentucky, Nooney Blue. Both are out of a mare by the thoroughbred stallion Shamaraan.