Sunday's €1.5 million Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen – one of the four Majors in the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping – was a real highlight, with fantastic sport from beginning to end. With the world's very best horse-and-rider combinations at start, some of them doing the last fine-tuning ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris in less than four weeks’ time, the Grand Prix was always going to be a clash of titans.
The 18 best horse-and-rider-combinations from the first round continued on to the second round over another massive course set by the German course designer Frank Rothenberger, who for the 2024-edition had decided to turn the traditional double of ditches into a triple combination – with an oxer jumping in. Eleven of the riders that returned for round two managed to solve all the questions asked by Rothenberger and four delivered double clears to move on to the jump-off.
With this photo special, we look back at the second round as well as the jump-off that decided the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen.
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Stopping the clock on 41.02, Ward and Ilex set the pace for the battle in the jump-off. “He did everything exactly the way I planned,” Ward said afterwards of Ilex. “In hindsight, I could have done eight to the last pretty easily, but I had a fade-out and then it felt slow. The horse was jumping better the last round than in the first, so you always kick yourself a little bit, but Andre took a great risk and it paid off and you know that's great sport. I can't be disappointed with anything other than that you certainly would like to win.”