Edited press release from Hubside Jumping

On Sunday afternoon, the curtains closed for this year's edition of Hubside Jumping Grimaud in the Golfe de St Tropez, France. After twelve weeks of intense and thrilling competition, the 2021-season came to a conclusion with great sport and an outstanding victory for Eduardo Pereira de Menezes (BRA) and the 13-year-old gelding H5 Chaganus (Chacco-Blue x Carthago) in the CSI5* 1.60m Grand Prix. 

Thirteen obstacles and sixteen jumping efforts waited for the horses and riders, and a layout cleverly thought out by course designer Cédric Longis. “As always here in Grimaud we’ve got a lot of good riders,” explained the Frenchman. “The particularity this week is that there were also a lot of horses that are just starting out as this level. We’re also at the end of the season so some may be tired, these are things that mustn’t be forgotten. I decided to make the course not quite as high and relatively airy. There are few technical lines, all the difficulty will be in those lines and in the precision that the riders will need to show.”

Sweden was the first nation to enter the ring, represented by Wilma Hellström and Cicci BJN (Ci Ci Senjor Ask x Tornesch) – who also were the first to jump clear. The Swedish rider was followed by eleven others including Philippe Rozier (FRA) with his amazing Le Coultre de Muze (Presley Boy x Vigo d'Arsouilles), Amre Hamcho (SYR) and Vagabon des Forêts (Corofino 2 x Richebourg), Mark McAuley (IRL) with Jasco Vd Bisschop (Dulf van den Bisschop x Krunch de Breve), Eduardo Pereira De Menezes with H5 Chaganus, Emanuele Gaudiano (ITA) and Nikolaj de Music (Kannan x Nabab de Reve) as well as Nicolas Delmotte (FRA) riding his incredible Ilex VP (Diamant de Semilly x Darco). Last to qualify, but not by any means the least, was the Belgian national champion Jos Verlooy with Luciano van het Geinsteinde (Quinn van de Heffinck x Air Jordan). 

In an electric atmosphere, a fierce jump-off between twelve competitors took place in the Grimaud arena. Hellström put the pressure on right from the start with the first clear round, but her time was immediately beaten by Michael Hughes (USA), who held the lead for a very short time before Philippe Rozier, supported by the public, took another seven hundredths of a second off. The Frenchman barely had time to leave the ring before he was pushed off the top slot of the leader board by Filippo Marco Bologni (ITA), and then Eduardo Pereira De Menezes and his brilliant H.5 Chaganus put an end to the suspense with a lightning fast round that was two seconds faster. Mark McAuley, Nicolas Delmotte and Jos Verlooy tried everything, but the Brazilian was just too far ahead. McAuley finished second, just ahead of Delmotte in third, Verlooy in fourth, and Bologni in fifth. 

“Chaganus is unbelievable,” said the thrilled winner. “We’ve been competing together for three years, and in 2019 we jumped at the Pan American Games, winning the team gold medal. We’re a real couple, I’m very lucky to have a horse like this in my stable. I’m delighted with this victory, I’d really want to thank my owners, H.5 Stables, who’ve been with me and supporting me for several seasons now. I hope we can do it again in Lyon in two weeks’ time!”