Nicolas Delmotte (FRA) and Urvoso du Roch (Nervoso x Grand d'Escla) took a home win in Saturday's main class at Hubside Jumping in Grimaud, France – the CSI4* 1.45m counting for the Longines Ranking. Delmotte beat Ireland's Bertram Allen and Pacino Amiro (Pacino x Nc Amiro) with 0.42 seconds in the jump-off. Eleven of the 33 riders in the class made it to the jump-off, and third best was Switzerland's Steve Guerdat – world number one – with Tum Play du Jouas (Querlybet Hero x Voltigeur du Bois) that was 0.09 seconds behind Allen on the clock.
"In the jump-off, there were eleven of us, including horses and riders known to be very fast," Delmotte commented after his win. "I started in third position, and from the beginning I felt that my horse jumped really well. On the first line, I managed to do seven strides very forward, where others did eight. Those seven strides might have saved time and really, everything else, the distances, the turns, went very well. I took a real risk in the double: The horse jumped remarkably," concluded the happy winner with a smile.
The French riders also dominated the 1.50m class, with Francois Xavier Boudant on Houston B (VDL Zirocco Blue x Vigaro) taking the win ahead of his compatriot Thomas Lambert on Stu Ungar Dit Le Kid (Conthargos x Pilot). Third place went to Brazil's Pedro Veniss and Balada de Colores (Baloubet du Rouet x Couleur-Rubin).