If there was still any doubt, Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida proved to showjumping aficionados this afternoon that he will be a serious contender in a month's time at the World Championships in Aachen. Indeed, set against the backdrop of the Grandes Écuries of the Château de Chantilly, the partnership he forms with Karonia.L—with whom he will compete at the Soers stadium—triumphed in the Grand Prix de la Ville de Chantilly, presented by Al Shira’aa. In doing so, they outpaced world number three Scott Brash riding the exceptional Hello Mango, as well as the Emirati rider Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi and his Selle Français stallion Enjoy de la Mure, with whom he notably posted a brilliant clear round over the fences during the first individual class at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

While the eleven-year-old KWPN mare who won today proved this weekend that she is capable of stringing together multiple penalty-free rounds—after finishing ninth in the 1.50m Prix Saur on Friday—there is no doubt that her rider, currently ranked seventy-sixth in the world, never doubted her qualities. In fact, the pair has already won thirteen other international classes counting toward the Longines world rankings for female and male riders. Among these successes was their victory in Arezzo, where the pair claimed a 4* 1.55m Grand Prix on March 29. More recently, the two partners produced a double clear in the CSIO 3* Nations Cup in Lisbon at the end of May, following the exact same performance in the team event of the CSIO 3* in Lier, Belgium, two weeks earlier.

A Thrilling Initial Round and Jump-Off

The least that can be said is that right from the start of the 1.55m class, the spectators who came to watch the feature event of a highly successful weekend by organizers GRANDPRIX Events were well rewarded. On one hand, even though the heat could feel overwhelming, the wind blowing across the immense 150-meter-long grass arena provided a most welcome freshness. On the other hand, from a sporting perspective, all the ingredients—from the star-studded lineup of riders and the quality of the infrastructure to the course designed by Olympic course designer Grégory Bodo—came together to deliver top-tier sport.

Thus, as the first to enter the ring on Très Bien, American champion Laura Kraut set the tone with a brilliant penalty-free round. Two horses later, British world number three Scott Brash joined the 2008 Beijing Games team Olympic champion in the jump-off. Initially reported with four penalty points on the grey Hello Mango, the double team Olympic champion from the London 2012 and Paris 2024 Games indeed kept all the rails in the cups while crossing the finish line within the time allowed, offering the public an impressive lineup of heavyweights for the final act right from the opening minutes. Ultimately, eight other pairs signed a clear round, including the winning duo of this very class a year ago: France's Marc Dilasser aboard his faithful Arioto du Gèvres. Nicolas Layec also earned his ticket to the jump-off on Fée de Caryan, as did Brazilians Pedro Veniss and João Victor Castro Aguiar Gomes De Lima, riding Duelante 3K and Obama de la Linière, respectively.

During the final showdown, Laura Kraut, who has been stringing together shows in France after her recent appearances at the CSIO 5* in La Baule and the CSI 3* in Le Pin-au-Haras, clearly set the pace. Taking full advantage of the space provided by the course designer, she crossed the timers in 45.09 seconds. Next, her Scottish pursuer stopped the clock at 44.97 seconds, notably after asking his eleven-year-old daughter of Untouchable 27 to lengthen her stride to leave one out to the final oxer, decorated in the colors of the Ville de Chantilly.

Right after, Switzerland's Nadja Peter Steiner, riding Clearound Il Mondo—the latest addition to her stables and a horse she believes in heavily—also left all the rails up, but could only stop the clock 86 hundredths of a second behind Laura Kraut, settling for fifth place overall. Delivering a superb jump-off, Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida crossed the timers more than a second and a half ahead of Scott Brash (43.40 seconds). In the end, the Portuguese rider held onto the lead until the very finish, as Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi slotted into third place on his exceptional son of Vigo Cécé.

Marc Dilasser could not avoid a fault from his son of Diamant de Semilly on the first obstacle of the jump-off and finished in seventh place, just ahead of his compatriot Nicolas Layec on Fée de Caryan, who collected eight points on the shortened course. This superb jump-off, twisty in its first half and very forward-galloping in the second, also gave Canada's Chris Pratt a run for his money. With Ideaal ES, he picked up four points and took sixth place. Making two and three errors respectively during the final act, Brazilians Pedro Veniss and João Victor Castro Aguiar Gomes De Lima completed the Top 10.

The last placed French rider, Romain Dreyfus, came close to securing his ticket to the jump-off. Unfortunately, Channah's rider exceeded the allowed time of eighty-one seconds by 18 hundredths of a second. Nevertheless, he finished in a brilliant eleventh place.

One Last Show Before the Aachen World Championships for Karonia.L

Following his victory, Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida explained: "Before the jump-off, I had imagined doing one less stride to the last fence, and Scott confirmed my decision. I know my mare can be very fast, and we got a good start in this jump-off. In fact, I think that's where I gained time on Scott, because he probably took slightly wider turns. It’s a very special feeling to win ahead of riders like Scott Brash and Laura Kraut. Today, you had to stay focused throughout the entire Grand Prix. On Friday, I picked up four points in the jump-off because of a mistake on my part. So today, I made sure to stay perfectly focused during the final act. The Chantilly show is one of my favorite outdoor events. This was my last competition with Karonia.L before the Aachen World Championships. Now, we are going to train hard to approach this major championship in the best possible condition and try to win a medal there!"