MEREL Blom-Hulsman became the first rider from The Netherlands to win a gold medal at the FEI WBFSH eventing world championships for young horses, when landing last week’s CCI2*-L for six-year-olds at Le Lion d’Angers on Killer Queen.

Blom-Hulsman recorded an all-the-way victory on the Holstein mare, completing on her dressage score (25.1 penalties), ahead of Britain’s Max Warburton, who, fourth after the first phase, also finished on the score he was awarded by Finland’s Jutta Koivula (C), the USA’s Robyn Fisher (E) and Britain’s Douglas Hibbert (M), with the KWPN gelding Norway van de Haar (28.8).