Pénélope prevails at first 5* at GCT Cannes

French riders Pénélope Leprevost and Julien Epaillard scored at the opening GCT 5* speed class in Cannes flying the flag for the home crowd.

Pénélope pulled off a dramatically quick round in 56.99 on Oscar des Fontaines with a fiery pace round the 1.45m course on the Riviera. In a patriotic win she strongly outpaced the rest of the field on her bay stallion and after her lap of honour she said: “It was great. He was super.”

Fellow French rider Julien Epaillard had held on to the lead for most of the competition after his big striding horse Qarat de la Loge devoured the double combinations in the Stade des Hesperides arena. But his time of 61.02 was shattered by Pénélope’s masterly display of speed. Third place rider Marcus Ehning of Germany rode a deceptively quick round on Sabrina finishing in 62.10.

The arena close to Cannes’ famous Croisette, home of the star-studded film festival, was bathed in evening sunshine as many of the riders took the opportunity to use the class to prepare their Grand Prix horses. But others like Spain’s Sergio Alvarez Moya and Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa went flat out taking risks around the course, but paying the price with four faults. But even their fast times were beaten by Pénélope.

Irish rider Denis Lynch and Ludger Beerbaum of Germany were both back in the saddle at the GCT after brief time-outs with injury. Fifteen riders jumped clear out of a field of 51. The arena is set for a packed schedule of world class show jumping climaxing in the GCT Grand Prix on Saturday evening.