Text © World of Showjumping

Switzerland's Martin Fuchs and the 11-year-old gelding L&L Upgrade (Ultimo x Baloubet du Rouet) won Saturday's CSI5*-W 1.60m Helsinki Grand Trophy – a competition counting for the Longines Rankings Group C – at the 2024-edition of Helsinki International Horse Show in the Finnish capital. 

Clocking a time of 33.43 in the jump-off between thirteen horse-and-rider combinations, the current world number twelve took the win, leaving Brazil's Yuri Mansur and the 16-year-old Vitiki (Valentino x For Expo) to the runner-up spot – 0.75 seconds behind. 

With a time of 34.22 seconds, Sweden's Angelica Augustsson-Zanotelli and the 11-year-old mare Deesse de Coquerie (Consul Di Vie Z x Papillon Rouge Z) took third, followed by Denmark's Andreas Schou and Billy Matador (Billy Mexico x Animo) in fourth in 34.30, while Belgium's Pieter Devos and Primo DV (Vigo d'Arsouilles x Heartbreaker) placed fifth with their time of 34.67. 

“The jump-off course fitted me and my horse really well," Fuchs explained in a press release from Helsinki International Horse Show. "My horse is very quick, handy and careful, so an indoor competition like this, with lots of turns, suits him. My horse helped me in the first round; I did not ride as well as I would have wanted."

"I would rather risk it than end up fourth," Fuchs continued about his strategy for the jump-off. "I prefer to ride fast and try to win. Sometimes it works – like today – and sometimes it doesn't."