Marcus Ehning savours victory in Cannes

Marcus Ehning’s victories in Grand Prix have been rare these times. The last one dates back to 2012 during the World Cup in London. The German technique master ended this “dry period” of six months (even three years when regarding strictly the GCT) in Cannes on Saturday night by winning the Grand Prix Longines Global Champions Tour with his Plot Blue, placing before British rider William Funnel (Billy Congo).

The competition had started off with a concern for the Ehning’s staff: his horses had quarrelled in the van on their journey to Cannes and injuries were expected. The fear was unrealized, and after a long walk with his groom, the now 16-year-old gelding was good to go.

It is incidentally this rather “advanced” age that brought about the benefit: “I am not a junior, either, and our experience gave us a competitive edge tonight. At the beginning, I found the course rather difficult, but it then turned out to be much less complicated than I had expected. The horse feels good here in Cannes, and I had the feeling that the jump-off was ours.” It’s a piece of cake!

The German beats the Brit by more than one second in the jump-off with only five riders, none of which were French. The only two possible candidates would have been Kévin Staut (Estoy Aqui de Muze, 12 points) and Pénélope Leprévost (Nayana, 4 points) who both failed in the second round. The trap was also fatal for the world n°1 Christian Ahlmann (Codex One) and the Greek Athina Onassis, who gets more and more competitive with AD Camille Z.

We leave the closing words to the German Philipp Weishaupt (10th) who spoke in confidence to the American rider Laura Kraut (9th and leader of the general GCT ranking): “You don’t need to be in an arena built for thousands of spectators in order to feel such an ambiance. I don’t know why, but something special is always in the air here.” Which Laura confirmed. It’s all said: Cannes is irreplaceable!