Ocala, Fla.—March 21
World champions, Olympic gold medalists, World Cup Final winners, World No. 1 title holders. That’s who riders were up against in Thursday evening’s $330,000 Lugano Diamonds Grand Prix at World Equestrian Center—Ocala. As part of the second leg of the inaugural Longines League of Nations, the grand prix drew many of the world’s top riders in advance of Saturday’s team competition.
With a jump-off round nearly a full second faster than his nearest competitor, Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs showed just how good he is. Sitting on his 2021 European Championships (Germany) team gold and individual silver-medal winning mount, Leone Jei, Fuchs felt confident in turning on the speed to take the win with a short-course time of 36.68 seconds.
“Really a fantastic performance of Leone Jei tonight,” he said. “He was great two weeks ago at the Dutch Master in the Rolex Grand Prix. He felt amazing, so I was very excited to bring him over here to ride him in the grand prix and then also in the Nations Cup for Team Switzerland. He jumped fantastic both rounds; he felt really good. He was really working with me, and I felt like he enjoyed both rounds a lot.”
Watch their winning jump-off round, courtesy of World Equestrian Center—Ocala:
Fuchs was not concerned the class took anything out of the 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Baltic VDL—Dara, Corland), who he also plans to ride in Saturday’s League of Nations competition.
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“When you’re in a grand prix like this, you really want to win, and you try your best in the jump-off,” he said. “You don’t think too much about the Nations Cup yet. Leone Jei has so much experience already at this level, and I really trust him that he can go fast in a jump-off like today, and then still be focused and at his best on Saturday for Team Switzerland.”
Coming in second was fellow Swiss rider Steve Guerdat and Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte in 37.54 seconds. While Guerdat’s accolades are numerous—a world title is the only championship that has eluded him—the 10-year-old Belgian Sport Horse (Bamako De Muze—Fayenka Sitte, Tinka’s Boy) is new to the level, having only started jumping 1.60-meter courses since pairing with Guerdat in July.
“Knowing I had a little bit of lack of experience on my horse, I thought it was a very tough grand prix,” Guerdat said. “I thought the time was just maybe 1 or 2 seconds too short, so I knew it was going to be a tough ask. He responded beautiful to everything I asked him. It couldn’t have been any better, and it made me very proud tonight.”
Last to go in the first round was U.S. rider Callie Schott, who made her team debut in February in the League of Nations leg in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia. Garant, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Warrant—C’est La Vie, Verdi TN), took a bit too much time in the air over the double to catch the top two riders, but they finished in 37.88 seconds for third.
“Going to Abu Dhabi, that was my first time riding for the team, and unfortunately I had the first jump down in both rounds, but besides that he jumped incredible,” she said. “I think that gave me with him a lot of confidence to jump at this level.”
Though she was riding against titans of the sport, Schott felt it was quite exciting to be able to succeed in a class that tripped up so many.
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“I feel like jumping a clear round was a major accomplishment in itself, and then it was, ‘Let’s see what I can do,’ ” she said. ”I haven’t had that much practice in jump-offs at this level, so I just felt like I was going to try to do my best.”
Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam took fourth in the jump-off with RR Combella, and France’s Kevin Staut elected not to jump-off with Beau De Laubry Z.
Alan Wade’s course proved formidable, with just five pairs of 49 advancing to the jump-off. Eight pairs retired on course, and another was eliminated. With a tight time allowed, five pairs were clear over the jumps but accrued time faults.
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