Sweden's Henrik von Eckermann and Glamour Girl (VDL Zirocco Blue x Caletto I) snatched the win from the hosts in Saturday’s CSIO5* 1.50m Prix Saur in La Baule. Eight horse-and-rider combinations cleared the first-round track to move on to the jump-off, where seven opted to return to battle it out for the victory.

It was home hero Gregory Cottard and the wonderful Cocaine du Val (Mylord Carthago *HN x Si Tu Viens) who put pressure on the rest with a lightning-fast round as second in the ring. With super neat turns and a race to the last upright, the clock stopped on 36.34 for the crowd favorites – and it looked very hard to beat. Great Britain’s Ben Maher and his powerful stallion Point Break (Action-Breaker x Balou du Rouet) gave it a good shot, but crossing the finish line they were 2.38 seconds behind Cottard – which illustrated exactly how fast the French rider had been. Philipp Weishaupt and Zineday (Zinedine x Polydor) could also not catch Cottard, and finished 1.40 seconds behind – but with world no. one Henrik von Eckermann next to go, the French leader had reason to feel nervous.

One of the fastest pairs on the circuit, von Eckermann and Glamour Girl did not disappoint – going flat out to the Barrière upright halfway and also to the last vertical, and when the clock stopped the two had shaved off an incredible 1.10 seconds on Cottard’s time. As the two last to go, France's own Roger Yves Bost on Delph de Denat HDC (Air Jordan x Tlaloc M) and Belgium's Jerome Guery on Cristel (Diamant de Semilly x Dobel's Cento) stood no chance and had to settle for 6th and 4th respectively – behind von Eckermann, Cottard and Weishaupt as the top three, while Maher finished 5th.