German eventing legend Michael Jung was announced as the ‘guest star’ of the fifth week of competition at the Hubside Jumping Grimaud-Golfe de Saint-Tropez, and he did indeed come out swinging on the Côte d’Azur track at Haras des Grillons.
Aboard Fischerchelsea, he won the 4* 1.50m feature event of the day after a nine-horse jump-off, 20/100ths of a second ahead of Frenchman Julien Anquetin on Cesus de Fougnard and another French rider, Morgan Bordat on Uma.
In the other CSI4 * test of the day, the eventing multi-medalist finished in a respectable fourth place, this time riding Fischerdante, in a class dominated by Mégane Moissonnier (FRA) on Camelia de la Vigne.
In the CSI 2 * event, Jung took second place with Chasandra over a 1.40m track with a bjump-off. Only the Colombian Carlos Enrique Lopez Lizarazo and Everest DR managed to be faster than the German.
Michael Jung is certainly making his mark as a great show jumping rider; none of his mounts have had a single rail in the three classes in which he competed.
FULL RESULTS here.
~ with files from Blizko Communication