Simon Delestre fails with appeal against judge's decision in Prague

Simon Delestre competed for the Istanbul Warriors together with Henrik von Eckermann and Abdel Said in the quarter-finals of the Global Champions League in Prague from November 20 to 23, 2025. There is a lot of money at stake in these “play-offs”, 8.5 million euros in total. Delestre delivered a flawless round with Cayman Jolly Jumper, helping the team into the semi-finals.

However, there was a problem: the chin strap of his helmet had come loose during the last four jumps on the way to the finish. This was noticed by a competing team, who reported the infringement to the judging panel. They looked at the videos of the ride again and found that the buckle had indeed come loose.

A few hours after his clear round, Delestre was informed by the judges that he had been eliminated in accordance with Article 256.1.4 of the FEI Jumping Rules. This meant 40 penalty points for his team. The team slipped to last place and the dream of big money was shattered.

Delestre lodges protest

Simon Delestre immediately lodged a protest against the decision of the panel of judges at 00:32 on November 21. Reason: The judges of the test had not had any objections during his ride. The incident had only been reported by a member of another team after the end of the test. The decision had been made retrospectively, which was contrary to FEI regulations for judges. Delestre was also of the opinion that the Istanbul Warriors had been disproportionately disadvantaged by the decision.

However, the protest was rejected and the judges’ decision confirmed. Delestre (or his team on his behalf) then lodged an appeal with the FEI Tribunal on December 5, 2025 against the decision of the panel of judges to reject his protest.

Local judges’ decisions are sacrosanct

During the trial, the FEI argued that it had no jurisdiction in the matter. According to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which was confirmed in January 2026 by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court as the highest court in sports matters, decisions of the arbitration tribunal on site at competitions are final.

Accordingly, Delestre argued that the judges should have rejected the protest immediately. The fact that they did not do so was an implicit recognition of the admissibility of the protest.

However, the FEI referred to Article 162.2 of the General Rules, according to which decisions made by the panel of judges on site are final and binding. Although there are exceptions, they do not apply here.

Whether the ground jury’s decision was correct or not is not decisive here. The decisive factor is that the ground jury adhered to the rules and is sovereign in its decision-making authority at this point. Even if there had been an error of judgment on the part of an official (which is not the case here, it is undisputed that the helmet fastening had come loose), the FEI Tribunal could only intervene if the decision had been influenced by fraud, arbitrariness or corruption.

The entire file can be viewed here.

Appeal to CAS possible

Delestre would now still have the opportunity to appeal to the CAS. He has 21 days to do so. But he wants to accept the verdict, as the French magazine Grand Prix reports. In the end, he was not surprised by the decision.

“I agreed to my team going ahead on my behalf, but I was sure of the outcome. I couldn’t imagine that the FEI tribunal would overturn a decision by the judges on the spot, which is understandable.”