Henrik von Eckermann wins top ten competitions in Geneva, day of second places for Germany –
Top Ten Day in Geneva. The top ten show jumpers in the world rankings compete against each other – this year without German participation. The victory was no surprise, but the test was extremely exciting. But also from a German point of view, there is good news to report from the day.
A Swedish couple has never won the top ten competition in Geneva. It’s a title that Henrik Von Eckermann is still missing in his collection. No, missing. But so far he hasn’t had one King Edward Under the saddle, which he already did this year for double world champion did. Last year the two were second in this test, behind the Olympic champions Ben Maher and explosion.
Explosion is on hiatus, set to return to sport in February, Maher said. He was still in the top ten and presented a fairly new horse, the KWPN gelding Exit Remo. One would actually expect him to be in the dressage arena, as his father is the Wolkentanz I son San Remo, and his Ferro dam is also the dam of the leading champion Grand Prix horse Vancouver K from Judy Reynolds. But Exit Remo is at home on the course and his rider thinks highly of him. But the two were still a long way from defending the title today. The dream burst after a refusal in the first round. After all, in round two they were zero. Nevertheless, they became last.
Both rounds really had it all. Julien Epiillard (FRA) and Caracole de la Roque, the pair that seemed unbeatable in the last weeks and months (Epaillard won 75 competitions this year! Of course not only with Caracole), had two downs in round one and one in round two today .
Martin Fuchs and Conner Jei came in with four penalties from round one, in round two they came out of a difficult turn that proved to be the sticking point of the course, severing the pairs completely. Conner Jei couldn’t jump off at all and a pole when he started again.
Kevin Staut and Visconti du Telman missed their chances in the first round with eight penalties. Harry Smolders and the great jumping Monaco had a super annoying mistake in the first round because in the second they were clean and fastest. That could have been the win, but in the end I was only fifth.
Peter Fredericson and Catch Me Not S had come through the first round without obstacles, but with a time penalty. They shot clean in the second round, but Fredricson played it safe. Good tactic. Was war happened in the first round? “The horse is fast, but the rider too slow.” Now he hopes that the four couples who come after him and don’t bring any legacies into the second round will try to outdo each other. What he may have thought but not said was certain, “… and that they make mistakes in the process”.
In fact, they did him the favor. The American made the beginning of the zeros McLain Ward with Contagious, the couple that won the Europe and North Rhine-Westphalia prizes in Aachen. They were lightning fast! But after a long gallop towards the obstacle before the dreaded turn, Ward tried to pick up the Contagio son a bit and catch the pole. “I should have trusted my horse!” Ward fumed. In the end they finished fourth.
Next couple were the world champions, King Edward and Henrik von Eckermann. What kind of horse is this fox! He doesn’t jump, he takes off! The two didn’t even come close to a pole, but the time of 48.42 seconds was beatable. Von Eckermann freely admitted that he doubted that it would be enough in the end.
Because the next couple were Marlon Zanotelli (BRA), who was victorious yesterday, and Like a Diamond van het Schaeck. He now held all the trumps. The second lap also looked fantastic up to the steep jump from the previously mentioned turn. There the two stood practically under the obstacles. Zanotelli’s well-behaved and courageous Diamant de Semilly son did everything, but took the top two poles with him and almost lost his rider. He sorted himself out quickly and over the last few flights both died at the finish without any problems. But the mistake and the time that the maneuver had cost threw the two back to sixth place.
Now two Swedes were in front. And only one could prevent the double success: Simon Delestre (FRA) with Cayman Jolly Jumper. Delestre tried everything and his ten year old Hickstead-son anyway. Although it looked a bit wild, it was effective, they finished clean – albeit almost a full second slower than Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward.
That was how Friday evening, endowed with 500,000 Swiss francs, was decided: Henrik von Eckermann was once again at the top of the podium, Simon Delestre was second and Peder Fredricson third.
further results
The day started today on the course in Geneva with the U25 riders. Victory went to the 21-year-old Frenchman Antoine Ermann in the saddle of the eleven-year-old Selle Francais gelding Beryl des Pres, with whom he also competed at the U21 European Championships this year, but ended up far from a medal. That was different today. Nobody could beat the error-free 61.64 seconds. were closest Philipp Schulze Topphoff and Clemens de la Lande. The ten-year-old son of Comme il faut finished second in 62.77 seconds.
Behind it was again France in front of Germany. Alexis Goulet rode his only eight-year-old Polish mare Calla to third place in 63.75 seconds, closely followed by Alia Knack in the saddle of the DSP gelding Claus Peter v. Catoki (63.94).
It continues with the Prix des Communes Genevoises, a 1.50-meter timed event that was advertised as a qualifier for the Grand Prix on Sunday. For the Rolex Grand Slam stage of Geneva, Irishman Conor Swail once again has the states where he usually travels (and again very successfully this year), left and traveled to his old homeland in Europe. He and his Hanoverian Graf Grannus son Graf Me In took the first step towards the big coup on Sunday by winning the qualification today. 60.73 seconds was an absolutely unassailable time. The second-place pair was more than a second slower. Those were Markus Ehning and Funky Fred, who finished in 62.09 seconds. Third (64.56) was Elian Baumann for Switzerland on Little Lumpi in 64.56 seconds, closely followed by Ben Maher with the nine-year-old Selle Francais mare Dallas Vegas Batilly, who Maher had only had in the stable for a few months. Before she went under the French Nicholas Delmotte. Jana Krieger took fifth place with the Oldenburg Dollar du Murier daughter Dorette (65.07).
It then went all over the place in Geneva’s Palexpo in the indoor eventing, which saw a French trio at the top. Standing at the front to Stockholm again Maxime Livio and 18-year-old Irishman Boleybawn Prince. ranked second Karim Florent Laghouag and Punch de l’Esques ahead of Sebastien Cavaillon with Black Pearl Z. The only German among the participants was Michael Youngwho rode Kilcandra Ocean Power in sixth place.