On Friday evening in Lyon, the Longines Grand Prix of the CSI5*-W competition was won by the Swedish rider Henrik von Eckermann and Hylanderhof’s Saruschka, who were the only pair to complete two clear rounds in the class. The Tokyo Olympic team champion added to his already impressive record of achievements with this win in Lyon. Mégane Moissonnier, riding Glamour du Lys, finished second and was the highest-placed French rider in front of her home crowd. Martin Fuchs (SUI) and Lorde took third place on the podium.
Created by the Spanish course designer Santiago Varela Ullastres, the course for the Longines Grand Prix – at 1.60 metres – comprised 13 obstacles and 16 difficulties. Only 12 of the 44 pairs that started the class managed to secure their place in the jump-off.
Martin Fuchs was first out and was as fast as ever; he took the turns tightly, but made a mistake over the penultimate oxer with water, which proved to be the deciding factor in this class against the clock. Nonetheless, he managed to record the fastest time of 43.99 seconds, which finally secured him third place.
“I did a pretty good jumpoff,” said Fuchs. “On the penultimate obstacle, I didn’t take the bend very cleanly. I lost a bit of momentum going into the turn and ended up too close to the obstacle. I’m a bit annoyed with myself, because I would have liked to have ridden two really good rounds today. But I’m still pleased with this podium finish, just a few weeks after the one in Oslo. It was a tricky jump-off, but good fun to ride.”
The other riders came out one after the other, and so did the mistakes. Only the local rider Mégane Moissonnier from the Rhône-Alpes region managed to complete her second run without any mistakes at the obstacles, but she played it a little too safe and was penalised 1 point for exceeding the time limit. Nevertheless, she was extremely happy with her second place. “I’m really pleased with Glamour’s performance. It is even more special because we were riding in front of the Lyon crowd, who were really behind us. This is only his second indoor event. He was a bit more nervous and anxious than usual, but he gave it his all in both rounds. I even felt he was more at ease when we came back out for the jump-off. The turns in the jump-off were really very tight and he’s not quite ready for that type of course yet, so I decided to play it safe and make sure he remained confident ahead of Sunday’s Longines FEI World Cup. He doesn’t have much experience at this level yet, but he has a lot of natural qualities and is very strong mentally. He’s a horse that I have a lot of faith in. He has everything it takes to perform at the highest level.”
As the penultimate rider to take to the course, Henrik von Eckermann knew exactly what he had to do to take first place in this Longines Grand Prix. He managed to ride a second clear round in 49.47 seconds, which was enough to seal the win.
“I was lucky enough to go out at the end of the jump-off, so I decided to play it safe and go for two clear rounds and, in the end, it paid off. I’m delighted with my mare – she was brilliant. She doesn’t have much experience yet at this level of competition. I’m taking things gradually because she is very sensitive and quite delicate. But tonight, she showed a lot of character in the arena. I just need to reassure her without trying to push too much.
“I love coming to Lyon, where the atmosphere is fantastic. I’d never won this Grand Prix before, but now I have, so I’m absolutely delighted!”
Results here.
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