Steve Guerdat wins World Cup jumping competition in Leipzig

He can just do it! Eleven pairs made it into the jump-off for the World Cup jumping competition in Leipzig. Steve Guerdat was the first to go with his twelve-year-old Bamako de Muze son Iashin Sitte. That doesn’t leave much room for tactics. “I did my thing,” he summed up later. Which is usually easier said than done, unless your name is Steve Guerdat. And if your name is Steve Guerdat, you say quite modestly: “I simply know my horse very well. He doesn’t have the biggest canter, but he’s very rideable and I know exactly how to save time.” That’s exactly what happened.

Guerdat rode like a Guerdat rides – effortlessly, sensitively, so that you would like to be a horse with him. And Iashin Sitte did his best to do everything right. This worked brilliantly 99 percent of the time in this jump-off, even if there were the odd clatter. Only the final oxer was not quite ideal and Guerdat had to shorten Iashin’s last canter jump a little to keep the situation under control. Then they crossed the finish line. Zero faults, 42.21 seconds. These were the key figures that ten other pairs were now to work their way through.

Young weekend

It was the Jüngel weekend in the Youngster Tour, it was the Jung weekend in the Grand Tour. Because even if he wasn’t at the top in the really important decisions, Busch titan Michael Jung was right at the front several times. And with the nine-year-old Zangersheide gelding Heros Z (or correctly Fischerheros Z) by Hotspot, he has a horse with all the potential for the course under the saddle. Jung had already said before the jump-off that they still lacked a little experience at this level. This was also evident in the jump-off. Although the pair missed a canter jump at all distances, when it got quite wide over the oxer to the jump-in at one distance, Jung was unable to close the gelding in time before the rapidly approaching “Sport im Osten” jump-off so that he would have gotten over it without any faults. The pair came within three hundredths of a second of Guerdat’s time, but not clear. In the end, they came sixth. A huge success!

Another second place for Delestre

France’s Simon Delestre had his sights set high. Last year, he came second in the World Cup jumping competition in Leipzig behind Willem Greve. This time he would have liked to win. But he also knew that this was the first World Cup show jumping competition of his life for his ten-year-old President son Gatsby du Tillard and they have only been a team for six months. Although they have already achieved some good placings, they have never competed in a 1.60 meter jump-off. Nevertheless, Delestre gave it his all against the clock as the last starter. The round looked fast, and yet they were a good second slower than Guerdat and Iashin, who were therefore the winners. Delestre nevertheless raised his fist. That was a promising debut against the clock! And coming second twice in a row isn’t too bad either.

“Everything tried”

Gerrit Nieberg can also have no complaints about his PARTNER PFERD weekend after second place in yesterday’s championships with IB Queen and today’s performance in the World Cup with his Riesenbeck Global Champions Tour leg winner Ping Pong van de Lentamel. The Emerald son jumped superbly, but hesitated before the double combination with Liverpool at the jump-off, wanted to take evasive action and took a canter jump to the side. Nieberg reacted immediately, straightened him out, framed him and gave an energetic impulsion, which immediately gave Ping Pong confidence again and sent him flying over the double clear. However, they each took one gallop more time than Guerdat for the distances. The clock stopped in 44.54 seconds. That was enough for third place. “I tried,” Nieberg stated after the result was finalized. But he was not disappointed, quite the opposite. “I am over the moon! There is always a very special atmosphere here in Leipzig. I would love to come back every year,” he beamed.

Gulliksen on the advance

Behind the top three, Johan-Sebastian Gulliksen was able to celebrate another top placing in the World Cup in fourth place after a clear ride, having already been among the front runners in Basel. This time the joy should be all the greater in view of the fact that the Norwegian was riding a horse that was still quite new to him, the twelve-year-old Colestus son Colonello. The two had only competed in their first show together in October last year. The gelding was brought into the sport by his owner, the British rider Emma McGlynn. Last season, Peder Fredricson presented him in Hamburg and Aachen. Since Colonello has been with Gulliksen, he has already achieved some very good placings, but today is by far his greatest success to date. Perhaps his home country has inspired the gelding. He is a German sport horse from the Saxony-Thuringia breeding area.

The other winners

Once again, German champions Mario Stevens and Starissa showed what a well-coordinated team they are. They were not the fastest, but they were clear. This put them in fifth place ahead of Michael Jung and Heros Z as the fastest four-fault duo.

Philipp Schulze-Topphoff and his 13-year-old Westphalian mare Carla by Comme il faut also had one knockdown after an otherwise great round. 44.06 seconds was enough for seventh place.

They left Japan’s Eiken Sato and Chadellano behind them, who had already finished fourth in Friday’s qualifier. Incidentally, Sato is now riding in a lemon-yellow jacket of the kind that is usually only associated with the Brazilian Yuri Mansur. There is a reason for this, as Sato has left the Schockemöhle stables in Mühlen and is now stationed with Mansur in Belgium.

Italian rider Giacomo Casadei and his 14-year-old Elvis ter Putte daughter Marbella du Chabli were also among the four-fault pair. Qualifying for the jump-off was a huge success for Hungary’s Tomás Mráz – number 306 in the world rankings with double European Championship experience – and his OS stallion Viva Cent by Vivant. However, two poles fell here.

This was also the case for Max Kühner and his eleven-year-old Count on me. The overall Global Champions Tour winner from 2024, who is based near Starnberg and competes for Austria, had already said in the run-up that not too much should be expected of him today. In fact, his Cascadello daughter got off to a great start, but then she lost track a little and took two poles with her. Probably a matter of experience, as this was her first World Cup jump-off.

You can find all the results from Leipzig here.