Today there was immense pressure on Steve and many other riders, including World no.1 Scott Brash. Scott is the current holder of the Rolex Grand Slam title and began his victorious campaign with a win in Geneva last year with Hello Sanctos.
Everyone had their eyes on Brash, hoping that he would win four in a row, unfortunately the slightest tip on the rail from Hello Sanctos and he had four faults , dashing his dreams of taking the prestigious Grand Prix.
The first round proved to be one of the trickiest we've seen this year with riders such as Ben Maher (GBR), Patrice Delaveau (FRA) and Pius Schwizer (SWI) retiring early on.
Sixteen riders made it through to the jump-off led by American rider Reed Kessler. Kessler and her mare Cylana (Skippy II) tried their best but left the arena with four faults, finishing in eleventh place.
Brazilian rider Pedro Veniss was the first to go clear with Quabri de l'isle but his time of 43.37 was not good enough and they finished in eighth place.
Home hero and current Olympic Champion Steve Guerdat and Nino des Buissonnets took the lead from Canadian rider Eric Lamaze and the mare Fine Lady 5, who took third place.
Second place went to on-form French rider Simon Delestre and Qlassic Bois Margot, who saw their hopes of winning when they clocked stopped three hundredths of a second slower than Guerdat.
FULL RESULTS