Canadian Olympian Beth Underhill of Mulmer, ON, won the €500,000 Rolex Grand Prix of La Baule on Sunday, May 8, to close out the CSIO5* International Jumping La Baule in France. On Friday, Underhill delivered double clear rounds to lead Canada to a third-place finish in the €250,000 Nations’ Cup riding Dieu Merci van T&L. The pair carried their form into Sunday’s €500,000 Rolex Grand Prix where they again jumped clear in the opening round of competition to join 11 other riders who qualified for the second round.
Beth Underhill and Dieu Merci Van T&L (by Toulon) were unstoppable and secured the winning time of 43.77 seconds in the second round as one of the two double clear combinations. With this, they were just too fast for Yuri Mansur and Vitiki (by Valentino). Mansur finished second in a time of 45.00 seconds. Pierre Marie Friant shared his third place with Belgium's Gregory Wathelet. Pierre Marie Friant and Urdy D'Astree (by Bouffon du Murrier) finished with bronze in 41.66 seconds and four penalty points. Gregory Wathelet and Nevados S (by Calvados Z) also finished in third place in the same time of 41.66 seconds and one jumping fault.
Steve Guerdat (Venard De Cerisy) secured fifth place.
Photo: © JC Bordas