Who better than Karim and Punch to open Rouen’s indoor cross track record?
In an overexcited atmosphere, Karim Laghouag won this evening the very first indoor cross-country race in Rouen, organized as part of Equi Seine. In the saddle on Punch de l’Esques, record holder for the number of victories in these spectacular events and still dashing at almost twenty years old, the Olympic champion from Rio beat Thomas Carlile, second on Spring Thyme de la Rose, and Luc Château, third with Propriano de l’Ébat.
What an evening experienced by the Equi Seine public on this gala Saturday at the Parc des expositions in Rouen! In front of packed stands, he first savored a great second edition of Mask Rider, a cavalier adaptation of Mask Singer, the TF1 show where he makes people guess the identity of singers who reproduce themselves masked. Even if this spectacle event had some lengths, quite logically as it is complex to set up, we can only salute the masked and costumed performances of Félicie Bertrand, Anouk and Nicolas Canteloup, Timothée Anciaume, Reynald Angot, Philippe Rozier, Titouan Schumacher, Thomas Carlile and the most unexpected Jean-François Pignon and Jean-Maurice Bonneau, the appearance of Max Thirouin as well as the animation provided by a trio composed of Alexandre Depagne, the excellent speaker of the competition, Pénélope Leprevost, who grew up near here, in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, and Pierre Durand, who needs no introduction. And above all, we must congratulate the Team Touriste, whose members have no equal in unblocking the world of horse shows. Hats off and… off the masks!
Decidedly spoiled, the Rouen public literally enjoyed the first indoor cross-country event organized at Equi Seine, whose Saturday evenings had always been punctuated by a Power on the wall, indoors in Rouen but also when the competition was included in June in Canteleu . Well, frankly, you have to go looking for a notorious curmudgeon to find a viewer disappointed with this development. Not only was there a crazy atmosphere, but it brought together some of the best eventing riders in France and presented a sport that insiders know very well deserves to be known. Perhaps there was in the stands the future Sébastien Cavaillon, who represented, alone but with dignity, Normandy in this event.
Penalized with a fault and two seconds of time exceeded with the sensitive Black Pearl, the rider from Bec-Hellouin, forty kilometers south-west of Rouen, is ranked in an honorable fifth place. Before him, on a technical and whirling course, we witnessed the eliminations, without gravity, of Mathieu Lemoine on Vidocq de Tael, of Christopher Six, guilty of a course error with Undercover BHS and of the Belgian Hendrik Degros, the only foreigner in contention, with Il Dolce van de Distelhoeve, having refused to jump a peak twice. We also saw Régis Prud’hon drop 33.6 points with Bennix de Bory, and Victor Levecque, 10.8 on Phunambule des Auges, the first of the three nineteen-year-old horses on the track this evening.
Punch in retirement after Geneva or Bordeaux
In real life, we especially saw Nicolas Touzaint take care of a very good faultless over obstacles with Dare Dare, the horse of his partner Mélinda Tapie, who fully deserved his fourth place, and Karim Laghouag honor his status as big favorite with the indescribable Anglo-Arab Punch de l’Esques, the second nineteen-year-old horse. As one could imagine, the most capped and titled couple in indoor cross country imposed its law, being the only one to drop below the 2′ mark. Mass was said. Luc Château and his valiant stallion Propriano de l’Ébat, who will also take him twenty years in 2023, boldly played their luck, but finished more than seven seconds slower, finishing third. Last to start, Thomas Carlile also rode to win, gratifying the public with beautiful gallops, tight turns and precise crossings, but his stopwatch was more than four seconds behind that of the man from Nogent- le-Rotrou.
Rouen therefore gave Karim a standing ovation, and Karim will keep very good memories of Rouen. “I had a great time. We are always happy when we win, but even more so when we can share our victory with an audience like this. Frankly, it was a great first. I congratulate the organizers. The ground is of excellent quality and the course leader worked perfectly well. Punch has experience and he is very easy to handle, which is essential to win such an event. As there were three couples eliminated before my departure, I didn’t take all the risks, and it paid off. The couple will take charge in two weeks at the CHI Geneva with the ambition of winning a second victory at Palexpo after that of 2017. “Punch retire from sport after Geneva or Bordeaux depending on the decision taken by its owner (Agnès Célérier, editor’s note). We prepared him this year by putting him on the grass part-time, knowing that he was never too fond of the paddock. He was ridden daily, which kept him sharp, but we reduced his training doses. And now, he seems ready for his new life. After one or two last Marseillaise?