Bertram Allen (IRL) won Saturday’s CSI4* 1.45m Longines Ranking class at Hubside Jumping in Grimaud, France. Riding Lafayette Van Overis (Kashmir van Schuttershof x Tauber An Het Kapelhof), Allen stopped the clock at 37.08 seconds in the jump-off – almost 1.5 second faster than runner-up Nicolas Delmotte (FRA) with Urvoso du Roch (Nervoso x Grand d’Escla). 

“It is an event with many very serious competitors, but we expect nothing less on the Hubside Jumping. The level is exceptional,” Allen said. “We were seventeen couples qualified for the jump-off, and when looking at the level of the riders, I knew we had to be very fast. The jump-off didn’t have so many options, so everyone was in the natural speed of the horses and in the turns. I’m lucky since Lafayette Van Overis is particularly suited to these kinds of courses. So the idea was to give everything and not waste time anywhere.”

As many as nine horse-and-rider combinations cleared the jump-off, so it was destined to be a race against the clock. Penelope Leprevost (FRA) crossed the finish line at 38.40 seconds to take the third position, riding Varennes du Breuil (Jarnac x Fetiche du Pas). Fourth place went to Daniel Deusser (GER) with Calisto Blue (Chacco Blue x Con Air), followed by Martin Fuchs (SUI) with his new ride Cha Mu 4 (Cornado II x Rheinsberg).

Earlier in the day, Jur Vrieling (NED) won the 1.50m class riding VDL Glasgow vh Merelsnest (Nabab de Reve x Darco). Second place went to Olivier Philippaerts (BEL) with Cataleya 3 (Cachas x Cassini II), third place to Penelope Leprevost (FRA) with Bolero de Beaufour (Nabab de Reve x Diamant de Semilly) followed by Laura Kraut (USA) with Casco Bay (Quaprice Bois Margot x Flipper d’Elle) and Wilm Vermeir (BEL) with Dm Jacqmotte (Toulon x Indoctro).