This afternoon, Germany's Kendra Claricia Brinkop and her ten-year-old gelding Gatsby le Magnific secured their first international victory in the highlight class of the day at the CSI 4* Longines Deauville Classic. In this Winning Round format class, the Stephex Stables rider was faster than Frenchman Romain Dreyfus, who took second place riding Comme Convenu, a son of Comme Il Faut. For Belgium, Wilm Vermeir, who had held the provisional lead, rounded out the top three with Adelio.
Looking at the start list for today's main class at the CSI 4* Longines Deauville Classic, the duo of Germany’s Kendra Claricia Brinkop and Gatsby le Magnific were naturally among the strongest contenders for victory. Ultimately, the pair—who have already competed in several prestigious classes—confirmed those predictions by delivering the fastest Winning Round of the afternoon over 1.50m fences.
While the rules of a Winning Round state that the top thirteen horse-and-rider combinations from the initial round qualify for the shortened course, several pairs who had left all the rails untouched were still left disappointed. Despite jumping clear in the first round, four pairs missed out on the Winning Round after being bumped from the Top 13. As a result, France’s Cyrine Chérif, Brazil’s Pedro Veniss, as well as Charles Henri Fermé and Sylvain Misraoui were unable to fight for the win. Nevertheless, they managed to earn places in the standings, finishing fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth, respectively.
At the end of the final course, riding her ten-year-old son of Action Breaker, the Stephex Stables rider proved to be the fastest with a time of 36.50 seconds. Entering as the second-to-last pair, Romain Dreyfus made a serious attempt to beat her time. Supported by a large Saturday crowd and riding Comme Convenu (by Comme Il Faut), the Frenchman ultimately had to settle for second place, finishing just 0.63 seconds behind. With a time of 37.63 seconds, Belgium’s Wilm Vermeir completed the top three aboard Adelio, marking the pair's best international result to date.
Competing in Calvados with her reigning Olympic and World Champion horse (for just a few more days), H&M Indiana, Sweden’s Malin Baryard-Johnsson took fourth place. Today, she relied on the experience of her Kashmir van Schuttershof daughter to place in the standings with a steady pace, without taking unnecessary risks.
First international success for Gatsby le Magnific
Even though the son of Action Breaker out of an Ogano Sitte dam has already competed in several 5* Grand Prix classes—including at the Saut Hermès at the Grand Palais and the Printemps des Sports Équestres in Fontainebleau—he had never previously won an international class under the 31-year-old German rider, who was trained by none other than Marcus Ehning. Previously, the gelding had won only a single class in his career, at 1.35m, with French rider Nicolas Sers.
Paired since the beginning of this year with Brinkop, the ten-year-old Selle Français had nevertheless finished third in two 1.50m classes—first at the Sunshine Tour in Vejer de la Frontera in February, and again at the CSIO 5* in Hickstead just a few weeks ago.
Following her victory, Brinkop commented: "I am very happy with this win, especially since I've only been riding Gatsby since the start of the year. We’ve made a lot of progress since then, and as he proved today, he can be very fast when needed! This is my second time competing at the Longines Deauville Classic, and it's one of my favorite shows in France, especially because Deauville is such a beautiful town! Today, my goal was simply to go as fast as possible to try and win."
