Austria's Max Kühner and EIC Coriolis des Isles won Saturdays CSI5* 1.55m Le Saut Hermès at Saut Hermès in Paris. Photo © Nanna Nieminen for World of Showjumping.
Text © World of Showjumping
Max Kühner (AUT) and the 11-year-old EIC Coriolis des Isles (Zandor x Tlaloc M) won Saturday's CSI5* 1.55m Le Saut Hermès at the 2023-edition of the iconic Saut Hermès in the heart of the French capital.
Open for the ten best men and the ten best women from Friday's Prix Hermès Sellier, the 1.55m competition was jumped over two rounds. While only six horse-and-rider-combinations delivered a clear in round one, eleven out of the twenty pairs at start cleared the second round. With a time of 44.72 seconds in round two, Kühner was the fastest of the four double clear results – taking the win ahead of Willem Greve (NED) and Highway M TN (Eldorado vd Zeshoek x Chellano Z) in the runner-up position in 45.50.
"Coriolis had a little bit of a rest, and he was a bit rusty after that, so I honestly was not expecting a win today," Kühner told World of Showjumping. "It is a surprise, but it is always nice when it turns out better than expected. I wanted to go a little bit forward in the second round, and Coriolis has an amazing stride – he can do really long strides, but I could also shorten him so from fence one to two I did one stride less than most of the others. For the rest, I wanted to go forward but not super crazy and luckily it was enough. I think we saw perfect course building, the result speaks for the course designers."
"Coriolis had a little bit of a rest, and he was a bit rusty after that, so honestly I was not expecting a win today," Kühner told WoSJ after topping the Le Saut Hermès. Photo © Nanna Nieminen for World of Showjumping.
"Coriolis is one of my Grand Prix horses, one of my best horses," Kühner continued. "He won a lot last year and jumped double clear in Nations Cups, so he is a really good fellow. I can really trust and count on him. We have planned some good shows for him for this year, and he is also on my list for the European Championships together with Elektric Blue."
Kendra Claricia Brinkop (GER) and Naf Naf DMC (Thunder vd Zuuthoeve x Clinton) placed third in 45.99, while Ioli Mytilineou (GRE) and Perla vd Heffinck (Cooper vd Heffinck x Contact vd Heffinck) finished fourth in 47.01. Despite the fastest time in the second round, Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (BRA) and Heureuse Nouvelle WH (Cardento x Indoctro) had to settle for the fifth place due to four faults from round one.
The runner-ups in Saturday's CSI5* 1.55m Le Saut Hermès at the 2023-edition of the iconic Saut Hermès: Willem Greve and Highway M TN. Photo © Nanna Nieminen for World of Showjumping.
Saturday night's CSI5* 1.50m Prix du 24 Faubourg went to Olivier Perreau and GL Events Dolce Deceuninck (Toulon x Cartier Van De Heffinck). With a time of 41.53, Perreau took the win ahead of Roger Yves Bost (FRA) and Ballerine du Vilpion (Baloubet du Rouet x Quidam de Revel) in second in 43.06. Henrik von Eckermann (SWE) and Dzara Dorchival (Qlassic Bois Margot x Raphael) placed third in 43.65, while Victor Bettendorf (LUX) and Big Star Des Forets (Untouchable M x Voltaire Pref) finished fourth in 43.75 and Daniel Deusser (GER) fifth in 45.52 aboard Mr. Jones (I'm Special De Muze x Vertigo Saint-Benoit).
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