It was Daniel Deusser and Cornet D’Amour (Cornet Obolensky x Damiani) that jumped back into the limelight with victory in the CSI5* €300.000 Longines Grand Prix at the Longines Masters of Paris on Sunday afternoon, after two fantastic clear rounds.

A twelve-rider jump-off with some of the fastest riders in the world in it – including Edward Lewy, Nicolas Delmotte, Penelope Leprevost, Simon Delestre and Roger Yves Bost for the hosts – gave the Parisians crowds value for their ticket money, and they paid back by creating an amazing atmosphere for this 1.60m Grand Prix that counted 36 horse-and-rider combinations.

Although as many as twelve went clear, it was no easy task to solve the questions asked by course designer Louis Konickx over the first-round track that counted thirteen fences and included a triple combination at 7abc, a double at 9ab as well as a wall and an open skinny gate as the last jump. Many had a good ride until the triple, where riders had to choose between five or six strides going in and if coming flying in on the forward option many horses got a bit too careful coming out over the last oxer and would pay the penalty on the fences that followed.

The first clear in the jump-off came from home rider Nicolas Delmotte and Ilex VLP (Diamant de Semilly x Darco), but their time of 41.11 looked more than possible to beat and so it turned out as Belgium’s Jos Verlooy shaved it down to 40.45 as next to go on Caracas (Casall x Colman).

It did not last for long though as Lauren Hough took over the lead as the next in the ring on the tiny rubber-ball Ohlala (Orlando x Cardento), and despite having to add a stride into the double and to the last the American rider stopped the clock at 38.62 seconds and the pressure was on.

One rider later, Deusser and the lovely Cornet D’Amour entered the ring. The 14-year-old gelding is finally back at the highest level after a break, and today he showed yet again why he is one of the best horses in the world. Going down on five strides into the combination, and then getting a fantastic turn back to the pink Paris oxer halfway Deusser kept his breath in Hough’s neck until the very last line where he took out yet another stride to stop the clock at an incredible 37.95. It looked like it would be very hard to beat, but with some of the quickest riders in the world to come no one could be sure.

Maikel van der Vleuten gave it a good shot aboard Salomon (Stolzenberg x Aramis), but the Dutch rider eventually had to settle for fifth with his time of 39.88. Penelope Leprevost also had to settle in behind Deusser, and was in the end fourth on Vagabond de la Pomme (Vigo D Arsouilles Stx x For Pleasure) after crossing the finish line 1.88 behind.

Simon Delestre really went for it on his tiny super-star Hermes Ryan (Hugo Gesmeray x Ryon d'Anzex), but had to add where Deusser could take out strides and despite some really, really tight turns the clocks stopped 0.13 seconds behind the German rider’s time and the home hero had to settle into the runner-up position this time around followed by Hough in third.  

Neither Roger Yves Bost, Kent Farrington nor Steve Guerdat coming from behind could catch up with the top three – leaving Daniel Deusser to yet again be in the run for the Super Grand Slam Indoor-bonus of 2.25 million Euros set up for the rider that manages a triple consecutive Longines Grand Prix victory starting in Paris, then Hong Kong and New York in the same season.

Delestre was perhaps beaten, but far from upset about his second place today: “He was really giving me everything I asked. 0.13 seconds is like nothing, for me it was a perfect jump-off. I did not take all the risk, but he jumped amazing,” said Delestre about Hermes Ryan. “We always want to win in front of our home crowds, but the job he did today was fantastic.”

“For Cornet D’Amour it was his first Grand Prix again, and to be honest I was happy with my first round and I did not expect to win here today,” Deusser revealed. “I tried a little bit in the jump-off, but was also thinking it would not be enough to win as there were some fast combinations coming towards the end but that is the sport – in the end it was a bit more pressure, everybody tried a bit harder and I was the lucky one today! I am very happy!”

Text © World of Showjumping // Picture © Tiffany Van Halle