After two incredibly beautiful rounds it was Marcus Ehning and Cornado NRW (Cornet Obolensky x Acobat) who won the Grand Prix Hermès in Paris on Sunday afternoon. In true Ehning-style the German rider made sure that the lovely 10 year old stallion did not put a foot wrong in the two rounds – riding as smoothly and rhythmical as only Marcus Ehning can. With only three other clears in the first round, it was a very exciting jump-off where Patrice Delaveau on Lacrimoso HDC (Landjunge x Cascavelle) produced the only other double clear next to Ehning to take second while Katharina Offel was third on Lacontino (Landgold x Continue), with Laura Renwick in fourth in Bintang II (Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve x Orlando). With only four riders back for the jump-off in a breathtaking sun filled Grand Palais, it was bound to be exciting. When Patrice opened with another great clear in the jump-off, doing eight strides on the opening line and then later getting a perfect turn back to the third last oxer and then also from the penultimate vertical to the wall the clock stopped at 37.62 seconds. It looked hard to beat for those three riders to come. And when Katharina Offel got the pole at the penultimate vertical down as Lacontino threw in a little buck to take away the perfect distance and Laura Renwick had two poles down, it was all up to Marcus. And Ehning showed he was in it to win, putting Cornado NRW in top gear from the beginning. Also doing eight strides on the opening line and getting perfect turns absolutely everywhere, Marcus put in five strides to the penultimate vertical and then racing inside to the wall – and when the clock stopped he had shaved off 0.03 seconds on Patrice’s time pushing the French rider down to second and Katharina Offel to third. Click here for full results.
