The crowd gathered around the Mâcon arena, at the foot of the Château de Chaintré, for the premier event of the weekend at the Mâcon Chaintré International Jumping. Forty-seven horse-and-rider pairs competed in the Grand Prix of the City of Mâcon, set at 1.55 meters, designed by French course designer Cédric Longis.
After a final round featuring ten jump-off competitors, French rider Marc Dilasser claimed victory with his horse Make My Day Z du Gèvres, finishing ahead of the young Arthur Le Vot, riding Djinn Cece. Previous winners of this same Grand Prix in its three-star format in 2022, Cédric Hurel and Fantasio Floreval Z, secured third place this time.
“I’m truly delighted, I couldn’t have hoped for better! This is Make My Day’s third Grand Prix win. She won the secondary Grand Prix last year at the Paris Eiffel Jumping, she won in Lille, and now here, in Mâcon. She made a spectacular debut in the Nations Cup in Ocala this March, so our next goal is La Baule in early June.
The course was a classic ‘Cédric Longis’ design—very open, very delicate, just as he usually does. He creates real rider-focused courses, where each competitor can choose different lines based on their horse. The course was very subtle, and the number of clear rounds was just right. Cédric Longis is truly a top-tier course designer on the world stage!
The course was worthy of a four-star competition! In the jump-off, I knew that Fantasio, Cédric Hurel’s horse who was going after me, would be the fastest, so I didn’t want to exhaust my mare by foolishly trying something I couldn’t pull off. I aimed for the podium. When I entered the arena, there was only one clear round, so I took my chances while sticking to my mare’s pace. Today, luck was on my side and it worked!
We’ve had a great week here in Mâcon—the facilities are superb, very functional, and everything is well thought out. A big thank-you to the entire organizing team!”
