Press release from Hubside Jumping

After their victory in the Saut Hermès and their fabulous sixth place in the Longines Global Champions Tour of Cannes, Olivier Perreau and his mare Venezia d’Aiguilly are continuing their string of successes and won the CSI4* Hubside Jumping Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon in Grimaud. This adds another chapter to the great story that they’ve been writing together for the last ten years.

Swiss course designer Gérard Lachat created a particularly selective course for the forty combinations taking part in the CSI4* Hubside Jumping Grand Prix. The feature class of the weekend, with fences standing at 1.55m and boasting 150,000 euros of prize money, was challenging for the competitors, who encountered difficulties and weren’t able to avoid making little mistakes here and there. Ten of them finished with four faults, having knocked a rail down, three had a clear round in the ring but had a time fault and only three jumped clear within the time allowed. 

Félicie Bertrand, the public’s new sweetheart, and the winner of two major Grand Prix classes in 2019 in Montpellier and in Bordeaux, was second to go with Sultane des Ibis and found the key to this round. The first rider and the only one to do so for a long, long time. It wasn’t until Perreau, who was twenty seventh to go, came into the ring and jumped clear, that the public were sure there would be a jump-off. The two French riders, the current standard bearers of a flourishing new generation, were joined by Ukraine’s René Tebbel, riding Saxo de la Cour, the third and final jump-off rider in a class which was selective.

In the jump-off, Félicie had a record time of 36.43 seconds, but unfortunately knocked down a rail on the first element of the combination. She finished in third place in the end. Olivier Perreau, who had the second clear round, didn’t have to wait for long to know his overall position: first or second? First! The Ukrainian, who was also double clear, was a second slower than the rider from Rhône-Alpes.

“Félicie was incredibly fast but with four faults. As there were only three of us in the jump-off and Venezia is very fast naturally, I decided to ride my jump-off round at a fast pace, while trying to ensure that I was clear even so. It worked out perfectly today so I’m delighted! This mare was bred at our family stud, her little sisters are not far behind and I hope they will be as talented, as Venizia is really exceptional,” explained the winner.