The final highlight of the Morocco Royal Tour, the His Majesty King Mohammed VI World Cup Grand Prix, saw Jérôme Guéry claim victory aboard Kiliman Sitte. With this win, the Belgian also becomes the first 5-star Grand Prix winner in the history of the tour. He was followed by Great Britain’s Chloé Aston and France’s Simon Delestre.
The first CSI5* World Cup Grand Prix of the Morocco Royal Tour lived up to all expectations on Sunday, October 18. After three weeks of competition, the riders gathered to write a new chapter in the history of the Moroccan tour. For the 44 combinations on the start list, Italian course designer Uliano Vezzani had set a course featuring 13 obstacles and 16 jumping efforts, including the line from fences 9 to 10, running alongside the VIP grandstand, which proved to be a decisive test.
“I’ve been coming to the Morocco Royal Tour for 15 years, and I think the evolution of the tour has been remarkable,” explained the course designer just minutes before the Grand Prix. “El Jadida truly deserved to be upgraded to five-star status. Designing a course for a CSI4 and a CSI5* is completely different, whether in terms of time allowed, technical difficulty, distances or the choice of obstacles. Even though I’m now used to designing at this level, every course is a new story waiting to be written, especially when it’s at a new venue. And I’m sure that here in El Jadida, it will be a beautiful one.”
Tenth to enter the arena, Belgium’s Jérôme Guéry, riding Kiliman Sitte, was the first to produce a clear round. He was followed by Great Britain’s Chloé Aston aboard Akito Von Rocherath Z, and Italy’s Roberto Previtali on Quirinus 27 and Christian Marini with Chalasanga PS, all securing their places in the second round. With the Grand Prix contested over two rounds, they were joined by the seven fastest combinations with four faults.
At 3:30 p.m., the final round got underway in the presence of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan. France’s Simon Delestre, who had incurred four faults in the first round, was the first to put real pressure on his rivals, stopping the clock at 41.28 seconds, a performance that ultimately secured him third place. Great Britain’s Chloé Aston, the only female rider among the 11 finalists, confirmed her strong form with a double clear in 47.79 seconds, taking the provisional lead. But the final combination to enter the arena, Belgium’s Jérôme Guéry and his highly promising grey stallion, had other plans. They stopped the clock in 46.45 seconds to claim victory.
“The course was quite difficult, and I was actually pleased to see that when I walked it,” explained the 2022 World Championship silver medallist. “I knew there wouldn’t be many clear rounds, and that proved to be the case. However, this was a two-round competition, and in the second round, after watching Simon’s performance, I decided there was no point trying to go faster and taking unnecessary risks. Going last put me in a fairly comfortable position. Chloé had been fast, but I knew exactly what I needed to do to try to beat her time. Of course, knowing what to do and actually pulling it off are two different things.
“Kiliman was incredible and really rose to the occasion. He’s not the fastest horse, but he’s extremely powerful and has a huge stride. I wasn’t sure how he would perform indoors, as I had always imagined him excelling more in outdoor arenas. Yet here he is, claiming his first five-star victory, which is very encouraging for the future.
“We’ve only been competing together for three months. I’ve been following this horse since he was eight years old. He’s had several riders but hadn’t yet found the right partnership. After having a horse like Quel Homme, it’s not easy to move forward. He was exceptional, and you have to rebuild, develop new horses and find successors. I genuinely believe Kiliman could be one of them.
He concluded, “I’ve been coming to the Morocco Royal Tour for several years now, and I’ve really witnessed its development, culminating in this year’s move to five-star level. That progress is evident both in the organisation and in the standard of Moroccan riders. There were eight Moroccan riders competing today. Morocco has become a nation to be reckoned with at the highest level, and that’s thanks to circuits like this one.”
Results here.
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