World Cup Jumping Bordeaux

It was the first time that Frenchman Yann Royant was allowed to build a World Cup course – and in his home town of Bordeaux. Yes, he was nervous, he admitted later. But he did a great job, as everyone confirmed. His course demanded a good forward rhythm, otherwise it was impossible to make the time, as various pairs found out. The motto here was: if you pull too hard, you lose. This was the case for last year’s winner Martin Fuchs with Conner Jei.

It was a different story for German vice-champion Tom Schewe, who was making his World Cup debut in Bordeaux and had brought his second horse with him to Bordeaux, the nine-year-old Congress Blue PS, after his top horse Lorenzo ES did not feel one hundred percent fit in training, as he reported. Schewe and Congress Blue achieved what Julien Epaillard and Donatello d’Auge, among others, had previously failed to do: they were the first clear pair of the evening. The gelding had a slight left-hand twist at some of the obstacles, but Schewe kept him on track with aplomb and the Congress son jumped clear to the finish with impressive ease.

Until Daniel Deußer entered the arena on his Tobago Z-son Otello de Guldenboom, Schewe and Congress Blue were the only ones with a clean slate. But Deußer delivered a lesson in good show jumping. His round in the saddle of the twelve-year-old Belgian stallion looked like it had been pulled by a string. This made them pair number two for the jump-off.

Yuri Mansur achieved the same with his wonderful 18-year-old Hanoverian Valentino son Vitiki. And then there was the Irish rider Jessica Burke on the French Rock’n Roll Semilly son Good Star du Bary, who looks like a pony but jumps like a bouncer. The ten-year-old gray wasn’t just a good star today, he was a superstar, sensitively accompanied by his rider.

The pricking

The quartet started the jump-off in this order, with 27-year-old World Cup debutant Tom Schewe going first. “I’ve already come further than I thought I would,” he said after the first round. So his motto for the jump-off was: “Give him a good ride and see how far we get.”

ACDC’s “Thunder”, which blared out of the loudspeakers as they entered, seemed to correspond roughly to what Congress Blue PS was feeling at the moment. He half mounted, but Schewe was not at all impressed. The first obstacles looked good, but then what had already become clear in the first round happened: The gelding pushed a little to the left and the pole fell. However, the pair completed the rest of the course with aplomb. Four faults, 38 seconds, at worst that would be fourth place. But the competition had to ride first.

Next up were Daniel Deußer and Otello de Guldenboom. Again it was a picture book ride. At least until the last line. “I was a bit tight on the penultimate one, which made it too wide towards the last one,” Daniel Deußer later summed up. What the spectators saw was this: Daniel Deußer gave it his all once again on the last distance, but it got too wide to the last oxer and the pole fell. But the time was sensational: 35.72 seconds, new lead.

Then Yuri Mansur and Vitiki. “I’m incredibly happy to be able to ride this horse here after everything he’s been through,” said the Belgium-based Brazilian before the jump-off. “He is more than just a horse for us, he is a part of me, a part of my family.” Anyone who experienced how the stallion broke his fetlock at the CHIO Aachen 2018 in the Prize of Europe and then watched how the whole team fought for the horse’s life will understand what he means. Vitiki is now 18 years old and fitter than ever, as he showed again today. Nevertheless, they also dropped a pole. With a time of 38.93 seconds, they finished behind Tom Schewe.

Jessica Burke now had it in her hands. She had the best starting position and “only” had to ride zero to secure her first five-star victory. She and her Good Star achieved this with ease. With the only double clear of the evening, they took the win to Ireland. “The owner is celebrating his birthday here today, my friends are here, I’m just overwhelmed,” she gushed, barely able to hold back the tears of joy. But she was particularly happy to see her partner under the saddle. “He is totally relaxed in the warm-up arena. But when he comes into the course and sees the spectators, he grows beyond himself,” she described. “He is the only horse I have at this level. This is my first five-star win, we’ve been so close so many times and now it’s worked out,” she said jubilantly.

Daniel Deußer came second, Tom Schewe third and Yuri Mansur was fourth.

Destination: Fort Worth

With these 20 points for first place, Jessica Burke has now moved up to seventh place in the World Cup rankings and has therefore all but achieved her big goal, the World Cup final in Fort Worth. Daniel Deußer wants to go there, as he assured her. He is now fifth behind Richard Vogel and is planning to start in Texas with Othello.

After eleven points for sixth place in Leipzig, Michael Jung was able to earn five more points today after placing his Fischerheros Z in twelfth place with a picture-book ride, but unfortunately one jumping fault and one time fault. However, he still has some catching up to do in the overall ranking to make the cut for the best 18 riders from the Western European League who will be allowed to take part in the final.

From a German perspective, Philipp Schulze-Topphoff, who is currently 17th, still has a good chance.

Two qualifiers are still to come: Gothenburg (February 18-22) and Helsinki (February 26-March 1). The final will take place in Fort Worth from April 8 to 12.