© Marco Villanti pour HUBSIDE JUMPING.
France had to wait until the seventh 4* or 5* Grand Prix of this extraordinary season of the HUBSIDE JUMPING to notch up a victory. Nicolas Delmotte and Ilex VP were the winners, ahead of Normandy’s Titouan Schumacher, and of the Italian rider used to being placed here in Grimaud, Emanuele Gaudiano.
“It was a really great Grand Prix. The first round’s track was really interesting. I was last to go in the jump-off, which is said to be a good position. But I saw that the riders that jumped clear were going faster and faster as the jump-off progressed, and that it was getting harder and harder to improve on the time to beat. I had to pull out all the stops, but I honestly didn’t think that I could beat Titouan. There were already five riders who had jumped double clear, so I had to take all the risks. And so I was already taking risks on the first fence! I chose to ride the long distance at the start of the round in 8 long strides and then everything went well afterwards. I felt that my horse was really in great shape, which made me feel confident. I took all the risks until the last line, as Titouan had already had a wonderful jump-off. As did Mégane Moissonnier and Emanuele Gaudiano. Ilex has proved he’s reliable once again. He’s back in fine form after being out last year for eight months. This summer, he took part in national classes, including those on the Grand National circuit, which I really like for preparing horses coming up through the ranks for high-level competition. He was second in Saint-Lô and third in Le Touquet. Next week, Urvose du Roch should be competing in Grimaud’s CSI 5* Grand Prix. The HUBSIDE JUMPING is an extraordinary opportunity for us as riders: we’ll never be able to thank Sadri Fegaier enough for giving us the possibility to do our sport at high-level.”
Daniel Koroloff – E-mail: daniel@blizko-communication.com