Switzerland's Bryan Balsiger and his championship mount AK's Courage (Chepetto C x Lennon 5) took the top honours in Saturday's CSI5* 1.50m jump-off class presented by Hubside Store at Hubside Jumping Grimaud in St. Tropez, France.
Eleven horse-and-rider-combinations out of the 37 participants cleared the first-round track and joined the deciding jump-off, where Balsiger was the quickest, stopping the clock on 38.10 seconds.
"You really had to go very, very fast in this jump-off and AK's Courage responded very well," Balsiger said in a press release from Hubside Jumping Grimaud. "I think she's been jumping remarkably as of the beginning of the week. She has not jumped at this level for some time, and I'm delighted to have this good feeling again. Courage did a lot for me last winter and we had to take a break at the beginning of the year.”
Ireland's Denis Lynch and GC Chopin's Bushi (Contendro II x Nairobi) had to settle for the runner-up position with a time of 39.38 in the jump-off, while Piergiorgio Bucci (ITA) on Naiade d'Elsendam Z (Nabab de Reve x Quattro B) took the third place, Giulia Martinengo Marquet (ITA) on Scuderia 1918 Calle Deluxe (Cesano 2 x Con Air 7) the fourth and Thierry Goffinet (BEL) on Caruso de Mignot (Diamant de Semilly x Fidelio) fifth.
The second CSI5* class of the day – a 1.45m Special Two Phase presented by Hubside – went to Roger Yves Bost (FRA) on Urane (Miami de Semilly x Drakkar des Hutins) ahead of Christian Ahlmann (GER) on Otterongo Alpha Z (Darco x Hedjaz) in second. Wilm Vermeir (BEL) on Linguini de La Pomme (Marius Claudius x Tinka's Boy) took the third place, while Omer Karaevli (TUR) on Livingstone van het Peggershof (Ogano Sitte x Thunder vd Zuuthoeve) placed fourth and Gregory Wathelet (BEL) on Cartaro 2 (Carinue x Chacco-Blue) fifth.