Grand Prix Hermès: Ehning who else?

The Grand Palais could not have dreamed a more prestigious and beautiful victory for the showjumping comeback under its glass rooftop. The German Marcus Ehning, who serves a reference for any of the other contestants, taught them once more a beautiful lesson at the Grand Prix Hermès.

We had already known Marcus Ehning on Sandro Boy, with whom he had won the World Cup in 2007. We knew him less in the saddle of Sandro Boy’s daughter Sabrina, who won her first Grand Prix in Dortmund a month ago. Many still thought her too young in her job to win a five star Grand Prix, but with a rider that currently holds the world’s number 3 position it seemed possible for any horse to win any Grand Prix.

The Grand Prix of this afternoon, though, was particularly difficult. Out of the 30 starting couples, only eight made it into the jump-off. In this tie-break, Jos Lansink was the first to go: “It’s certainly a disadvantage to be the first to go as one has no way to compare with the other competitors, so one has to be exploratory. The course seemed difficult to me, so I preferred to play safe. But I am not certain that I would have been able to beat Ehning if I had started after him. I am more than satisfied with this third place with Valentina Van’t Heike.” Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, already winner of the Prix Equidia this morning, was the first to beat Jos Lansink’s time with his horse Casall La Silla, but nevertheless his performance was not going to be sufficient: “It stays a wonderful day to me. My horse hesitated a wee bit in front of the red oxer and it’s without doubt right there that I lost my 47 hundredths of a second that I am missing. But still: what a competition!”

Ehning enjoyed this third victory on French ground, after Villepinte (Top10) and Bordeaux (World Cup): “Being the first one to win in the Grand Palais is a special moment”, he says, beaming. “This competition and the whole atmosphere here have something very particular to them and I think I am speaking in the name of all riders when I say that we hope to come back to this Saut Hermès next year.”