Stuttgart (GER), 18 November 2012 – Kevin Staut broke German hearts today when, despite all the odds being in favour of a home-side win, it was the Frenchman who came out on top in the fifth qualifying round of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping 2012/2013 Western European League series at Stuttgart. Partnering the on-form grey mare Silvana HDC, Staut snatched what looked like certain victory from Germany’s Marcus Ehning and Noltes Kuchengirl when quicker by a margin of just one-hundredth of a second in an action-packed 11-horse jump-off against the clock.
Third place went to Portugal’s Luciana Diniz and Winningmood, while Sweden’s Jens Fredricson and Lunatic slotted into fourth. Today’s result leaves Staut with the same number of points as Western European League leader Sergio Alvarez Moya from Spain who went out of contention this afternoon with a single mistake in the opening round of the competition. The Spaniard, however, continues to head the league table going into the next round at Geneva, Switzerland in December because he has had more consistently strong results so far throughout this Rolex indoor season.