June 24—Monaco  

Italy’s Alberto Zorzi played the ace in Monaco with a spectacular Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix de Prince du Monaco win aboard Cornetto K.

Speaking after tonight’s win a modest Zorzi, 28, said he was “so happy for the result” and his horse had been “a super jumper.”

“I’m so excited to win my first grand prix—I can’t believe that [I’d win] before the class, but I had such a nice horse and he jumped great,” Zorzi continued. “Cornetto jumped very good. Before the jump-off we watched Christian [Ahlmann], and Jan [Tops] said maybe one [stride] less [between the first two fences], and I was just a little faster. To finish I’d like to say thank you to Jan and to Athina [Onassis] for the horses, Jan for teaching me every day. We work very hard but we have results, and we are very happy.”

Alberto Zorzi on Cornetto K. Photo by Stefano Grasso/GCT

Zorzi, a young Italian rider who has ridden for Jan Tops’ Stal Tops since 2015, took over the ride on Cornetto K in January. Cornetto K had been the ride for Brazilian rider Doda de Miranda, and de Miranda rode him into a tie for ninth place individually at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. But subsequent to de Miranda’s divorce from Onassis, the 11-year-old Hanoverian left de Miranda’s barn and returned to Onassis, whose European base is near Stal Tops. Onassis also rides with Tops.

Onassis chose Zorzi to take over the reins on Cornetto K. The pair were second in the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Miami Beach (Fla.) in April in just their sixth show together.

“It is always a pleasure to work every day with Alberto,” said Tops. “He is a pleasure to work with, not only in the ring, but also at home. He loves his horses. He is one of those riders that has been knocking at the door—finishing twice already on the podium in previous grand prix. It is great to have the chance to win a Global grand prix once in your life.

“Cornetto K is an amazing horse and Alberto is very lucky that he gets to ride it. It is a very talented horse and one of the best horses there is at the moment, and Alberto does very well with him.”

Alberto Zorzi on Cornetto K during his victory gallop. Photo by Stefano Grasso/GCT

All eyes were on another tricky technical course from Luc Musette on Saturday night, packing a lot of punch in the small sand arena, with several difficult lines for riders to focus on. A number of poles fell throughout the competition, with a particularly big and tricky combination for Fence 11, and a delicate plank at Fence 8 both claiming faults. In fact, perhaps unsurprisingly 13—more than half of all the riders—ended up finishing with a total of 4 faults.

The first of those was the initial rider out of the tunnel—U.S. rider Jessica Springsteen with Cynar, whose knocked pole came much to the disappointment of a vocal crowd in Monaco. World No. 1 Kent Farrington of the United States on Creedance, Pieter Devos of Belgium with his gelding Apart, U.S. rider Jack Towell and Germany’s Daniel Deusser with SX Hidalgo were also victims of the taxing route, picking up 4 faults apiece. It was a similar story for Jane Richard Philips of Switzerland, whose strong round with Dieudonne de Guldenboom was marred by a pole dropping in the triple combination.

One of the event’s most consistent under-25s, Jos Verlooy rode a beautiful clear, but was frustratingly left with a time fault, pushing him out of the jump-off.

Thousands of members of the general public strained at open side barriers to get a glimpse of some of the best horses in the world, and they were not disappointed. Christian Ahlmann of Germany was the first to secure a clear with his 9-year old-horse Dolocia, but was pushed into second by Scott Brash of Great Britain a few horses later on his 11-year-old chestnut gelding Hello Forever.

It seemed to set a trend, because just minutes afterwards, France’s Kevin Staut moved into the top spot with a pacey clear with For Joy van’T Zorgvliet HDC. The fourth, and final, clear came from an on-form Zorzi on his immensely capable black gelding, Cornetto K.

The tension was palpable ahead of the four-horse jump off, with all those involved spotted talking tactics with trainers. As super yachts nestled in Monaco’s iconic harbor just meters away, Ahlmann came through the gate into the jump-off like he meant business. He powered through the long run between Fences 1 and 2, taking on the twists and turns of the new course and pushing through to finish on 38.20 seconds.

Brash came up with enormous acceleration, but it was not to be his night as Hello Forever wriggled his way over Fence 3 and did not really recover, leading to two poles down and an eight-fault finish in a time of 39.14 seconds.

France’s Staut looked quick but controlled and surprised the crowd with an unfortunate pole down at Fence 2, finishing on 41.05 seconds with 4 faults—enough to give him a podium finish in third regardless.

It was all to play for when Zorzi and Cornetto K came through the tunnel. He took one less stride between Fences 1 and 2 than Ahlmann had and was up on the clock from the off, taking the water tray at Fence 3 perfectly before bouncing through the combination and racing to a winning finish at 37.8 seconds.

Watch his round:

There was a shake-up in the overall LGCT rankings after the competition result led to a re-shuffle at the top, putting Ahlmann of Germany in the first spot.

In the overall rankings, second place in the grand prix for Ahlmann meant he leapt up to the top of the list with 154 points, nudging previous leader Harrie Smolders down to second with 150. The evening win contributed to a rise up the leaderboard for Zorzi also, taking him to 145 points in total and in third position overall.

“I’m very very surprised I must say,” Ahlmann said. “We already had a good season but I have a very young horse here, when she did her first five-star grand prix I didn’t expect very much. I had her for the first time in Madrid and I could feel the quality, and that she was something special but she was not really ready to think about as a winner, or even to be in the top three. She did an amazing job today to finish second; we had an amazing day. I really didn’t expect it, so I’m very happy with my second place. Well done to Alberto, and well done to Kevin, they both did a good job. I will try my best, I will be in Paris and bringing Taloubet and Caribis, my two top ones for the moment so I hope I can keep the position. I’m really motivated and we will see what we get.”

Important links: Full results of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Monaco  |  Full Longines GCT of Monaco results