The 836,000 SEK Gothenburg Trophy presented by Agria in the fully packed Scandinavium arena went to France and Alderick Cheronnet. Only five riders out of the field counting thirty managed to go clear in the first round over the 1.55m track set up by the Swedish course designers Peter Lundström and Maria Alfredsson.
The first round had 13 obstacles and 16 efforts in it and the time allowed was set to 79 seconds, causing problems for a few riders. Robin Ingvarsson (SWE) on the 9-year-old gelding Hansson WL (Hip Hop x Iowa) rode a brilliant round and the crowd was already cheering for his great performance, but the Swedish rider crossed the finish line a tiny bit too late - picking up a very unfortunate time fault as did Denis Lynch (IRL) the 13-year-old stallion Echo de Laubry (Virus de Laubry x Feo).
The first clear in round one came from Pieter Devos (BEL) on the 9-year-old mare Claire Z (Clearway x Coronado), who continued to show amazing form and did a picture perfect round also in the jump-off setting the time to beat to 37,14 seconds. Swedish-based Satu Liukkonen (FIN) on the 10-year-old mare Gurra Hop (Hip Hop x Little Boy) did a nice clear round, but did not threaten Devos' lead with her time of 41,13 seconds. Third out in the jump-off was Marco Kutscher (GER) on the 11-year-old gelding Clenur (Carinue x Fernando). The pair turned as tight as they could and Clenur's huge gallop took them over the finish line in 39,53 seconds, right behind Devos. Forth out in the jump-off was Aldrick Cheronnet (FRA) on the 10-year-old gelding Tanael Des Bonnes (Watch Me*Hoy x Don Pierre), who rode in true French style and got their Chef d'Equipe Philippe Guerdat jumping for joy as he crossed the finish line in 36,92 seconds and took over the lead. Last out in the jump-off was Maikel van der Vleuten (NED) on the 9-year-old mare VDL Groep Idi Utopia (Quasimodo Z x Darco). The pair did a great round and with the time of 39,15 seconds placing third in the end.
Cheronnet took home the first prize 275,880 SEK, marking his biggest win ever. The happy winner said this after the class: "I'm so happy with this win, it is by far the biggest win for me and my horse was fantastic today. It was a really good atmosphere here in Gothenburg, so I went for it and felt a lot of support from the audience. The plan is to ride Tanael Des Bonnes tomorrow as well so I hope he will recover well from tonight’s class."
Text (c) Nanna Nieminen for World of Showjumping / Photo (c) Jenny Abrahamsson