It was France’s Julien Epaillard that was the fastest in the Longines Speed Challenge at the Hong Kong Masters on Friday. Coming in early in the CSI5* 1.45 class – where a rail down adds two seconds to the time – Julien almost let Pigmalion du Rozel (Le Tot de Semilly ) run free around the track without once pulling back setting the unbeatable target time at 59.81 seconds and also leaving every fence intact.
Nobody could catch Epaillard. Closest came Scott Brash on Hello Annie (Contendro I x For Pleasure) with a clear round in 60.06 seconds. Then followed Gerco Schröder on Glock’s Prince de Vaux (Flipper D' Elle x Super De Bourriere) in 60.38 seconds.
The fastest of all in the Speed Challenge was Martin Fuchs, but with a rail down he had to settle for 6th. It was not a black Friday for the Swiss rider though as he won the opening class of the day on PSG Future (Cashandcarry x Lorentin I).