Jumping International de Bordeaux It’s Daniel’s turn!

t was a ruthless battle to win the last Gothenburg tickets between the fifteen mid-ranked riders of the West-European League in this Saturday’s night World Cup Grand Prix at the Jumping International de Bordeaux. Finally, the ranking didn’t really change: the « already qualified » riders mostly strengthened their positions. One thing will be remembered though, it is Germany’s new victory at Bordeaux: this year, it was Daniel Deusser’s turn, winner of the 2014 final, to seize first place in this leg, for the first time in his career.   
To deliver both the fairest result for riders and an incredible show for the audience, this high stakes Grand Prix had to have the perfect design. Imagined by the French course designer from Bordeaux, Jean-François Morand made of his first World Cup course, a difficult one. Riders had a hard time to produce clear rounds. Finally, they were six to start in the jump-off, among them three Belgian riders, a German, a Spanish and a Finish, only woman of the jump-off. No French riders were seen in the second part of the class. Only Emeric George (Chopin des Hayettes) and Simon Delestre (Hermès Ryan) limited the damages with only one pole down. “It’s really a shame because Ryan was on 100% of his capacities and this course should have been completely satisfying without this fault.”  
This jump-off, without any French riders, had to celebrate the win of the only of the four German ones qualified, Daniel Deusser, already leader in the general ranking. “It’s always good to win, and here, in Bordeaux, with this enthusiastic crowd, it’s even better! I already won the Sunday’s Grand Prix here, but it’s my first World Cup victory in this leg. Even though my leading position is secured, it does not really matter because the clocks are set back to zero for the final.  However, it shows how good my season was and it gives me much confidence for the upcoming final that I plan to do with Tobago Z.”
Second of this jump-off with his huge Iron Man van de Padenbore, Begium’s Grégory Whatelet will not go to Gothenburg, as he was scoring his first and only World Cup points in Bordeaux: “It was a thoughtful choice because I needed to manage my horses. I put Corée on rest time, she gave a lot this season, whereas Iron Man van de Padenbore is coming back from injury. He broke a bone in his stall a year ago in Mexico, we could heal him and he was only back in competition in Paris, last December. He’s quite an impressive horse when you look at him, but he has a lot of blood, he’s sensitive and faster than we think.”
Thanks to his third place, riding a French horse, Rokfeller de Pleville Bois Margot, Spain’s Eduardo Alvarez Aznar was the only rider of the night to finally obtain his ticket for Gothenburg, moving from the twenty-first position to the fifteen. « It was a good day for me on this particular tough course, considering we only saw six clear rounds. » The Spanish rider took sixth position in last year final in Paris, in April. The goal now is to improve this already great result.
Even though they leave with empty hands today, France’s Oliver Robert (who scared us by literally going through the double line) and Kévin Staut (8 points with For Joy van’t Zorgvliet*HDC) still keep their position among the eighteen Europeans qualified for the final.
No French to celebrate today, but the Bordeaux crowd, famous for his enthusiasm, didn’t show any less support: « Seven thousand and five hundred people that we need to congratulate because they are equally fair-play and fan of sport » indicated Eric Delong, president of CEB. A crowd up to the expectations of this splendid European final!
R&B Presse(Crédit C. Bricot  CEB)