Setting a lightning quick pace from the first of the course’s 12 fences (15 jumps), optimising each of the turns along the way, Frenchman Mathieu Billot, paired with Cosacara Z (Cornet Obolensky), a 9-year-old mare, was victorious in the Prix GL Events, a class run against the clock with jumps sets at 1.50m.
“It feels fabulous to win in style at the Grand Palais, enthuses the 40-year-old rider, a member of the French Team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Thank you Edouard Coupérie and Olivier Guillon for selecting me to compete in this event. I’m in superb shape, as are my two fantastic nine-year-olds. The mare is jumping really well. She won the CSI 4* Grand Prix in Rouen in November and then ranked well in Vejer (Spain). We’ve prepared her thoroughly for the Saut Hermès. I didn’t really take any notice of the others’ times because I know my mare is very quick, highly respectful and very capable. I can make tight turns. That fills me with confidence in the run-up to Sunday’s Grand Prix Hermès, which I’m competing in with my other nine-year-old, Heartlove de Pleville, which had a clear round on Friday.”
Second, 1’’46 off the pace, Jérémy Le Roy can also be pleased with the performance of his 11-year-old French Saddle mare Falkira de Mormoulins (Cornet Obolensky). “We bought this mare 4 years ago and it has taken years of work after a tricky start. It’s immensely satisfying to secure these results. She hasn’t knocked down a single rail since the start of the year. I’m thrilled.” Riding Qiara de Kalvarie (Sea Coast Don't Touch Tiji Hero), a 10-year-old BWP mare, Belgian Gilles Thomas (ranked No.5 in the world), European team champion, secures third.
James Connors Smyth posts a blisteringly quick time in Les Talents Hermès
The last to go of the thirteen riders in the jump-off, Irishman James Connors Smyth, riding Dia Chapila PS, a nine-year-old mare, won the second of the three Talents Hermès classes, an event with a jump-off (1.45 m), reserved for riders aged under 25. Belgium’s Mathieu Guéry, mentored by his father Jérôme, a Hermès partner rider and one of the numerous champions on hand in the paddock to assist the upcoming generation, took the win on Friday with Time-Breaker S Z and led for some time this Saturday.
He thought he had another win in the bag today but it was not to be. He finished just 71 hundredths of a second shy of the rider from the Beerbaum stable, who is coached by German champion Philipp Weishaupt. “Prior to the jump-off, I knew that I had a very good and very quick mare, admits the 23-year-old Irish rider. I’ve been riding her for the past two years for the Beerbaum stable where I work. I also had an excellent coach who gave me excellent advice. Winning here is pretty crazy. In fact, it feels unreal to get a chance to ride a course like this.” Also posting two clear rounds was Swiss rider Léon Pieyre with Verona V Z, who takes third place.
