Twenty riders took part in the traditionally challenging 'Equita Masters' tonight in Lyon. The track was set at the maximum height of 1.60m and it was French Man Simon Delestre who took the win on the 9 year old Ryan des Hayettes. First to go was Belgian rider Pieter Devos with Couscous van Orti. The pair navigated the difficult track beautifully but unfortunately picked up one time fault for exceeding the time allowed. The first clear round came from American rider Lauren Hough and Royalty des Isles. They had a few sticky moments towards the end of the course but some excellent riding from Lauren enabled them to go clear. There was mixed results from the remaining two Belgian riders. Niels Bruynseels had eight faults with Filou D while Constant van Paesschen concluded with a clear with Citizenguard Understone van de Kapel. The home riders seemed to be struggling with Kevin Staut, Penelope Leprevost and Roger Yves Bost all faulting. However, Simon Delestre soon saved the day by going clear on Ryan des Hayettes. Last years winner Daniel Deusser also fell victim to the short time allowed, while Pius Schwizer retired with Clever PKZ after almost parting ways through the triple combination. Only ten riders progressed to the second round. Billy Twomey started it off by retiring after having two fences down. Romain Duguet soon took the lead by posting the first double clear on Quorida de Treho. His jubilance was short lived however, as Rolf Goran Bengtsson shaved one hundredth of a second off of Romain's time with Clarimo ASK. Simon Delestre was the last to go and managed to beat runner up Lauren Hough's time by over a second to take the win in front of a jubilant home crowd. Full Results Quotes : Simon Delestre : "When you win in front of an audience like this it is always something fantastic and it is a great pleasure for my team, my family and my partners, my owners. It really is a reward for everyone. Tonight I took the risk towards the Longines fence, the horse managed it very well. I hesitated to go inside the fences twice, but I saw Lauren Hough go and she was very fast so it was a hard risk to take. My horse moves well, he is still young at this level. Ryan is 9 years old and he really is a complete horse. He has everything, an incredible respect for the jumps and today he gave me 100% confidence."
