Master Del Monte : A Colombian victory to conclude

Beyond the sport and the victory of the Colombian Carlos Lopez in the final class of the 2018 edition, the Master Del Monte, the Jumping of Chantilly won this year a bet: that of renewal with the arrival of a new sports director, Thierry Rozier, and the complete redesign of the layout of the location. A perfect success because, to believe the first interested themselves, the riders, Chantilly is one of the most beautiful stops on the international circuit.
Thanks to Gérard Manzinali and his formidable team, the “small“ town of Chantilly has a huge place on the map of the world showjumping: a large contribution to the name of “World Capital“ of the horse with its 3500 horses in permanent residence, competitions in several disciplines, races, polo, endurance and of course this Jumping in the most beautiful setting in the world. What struck this year is the restructuring of the location giving it a new dimension: “After eight years with the same concept, we chose the renewal this year: we have completely changed the exhibitor village, we built a warm-up arena in sand, we recruited Thierry Rozier as sports director who brought us innovative ideas while being aware of the concerns of the riders as he is himself. This is a very beautiful edition, the public always responds, whatever the conditions. This is the ninth edition of the Longines Global Champions Tour in Chantilly, which is certainly the smallest city on the circuit. And it is certainly more difficult to organize an event of such a scale in a small town … we are a bit like the little Gallic village of the Global!“
And at the head of the Gallic village, a new Asterix: Thierry Rozier, who has brought this wind of freshness and renewal. A first experiment managed with happiness but with a lot of sweat: “I did not know that it would be so hard: the riders had warned me:“ you are crazy “. But now, I know that my shoulders are wide enough to bear such responsibility. Especially when the returns are positive, starting with those of the riders themselves who have all come to congratulate me. The quality of the footing was extraordinary, thanks to the maintenance work of France Galop, whose director, Mathieu Vincent, is a person really attentive. He notably opened the fibre gallop track to the riders who thus appreciated this additional space to hack the horses, in addition with the new warm-up arena in sand and fibre. Among the encouragements, I appreciated those of Jean-Maurice Bonneau, my predecessor, who was nevertheless present every day saluting my initiatives … But that it was exhausting: I have only one night to recover before re-endorse my riding suit and go to Aachen “… where his father Marcel remains to this day the only French winner of the Grand Prix, in 1971. And if the sports director of Chantilly became next Sunday the first successor of his father?
It is this combination of people motivated by the beauty of this sport, who have this almost obsession to make it even more beautiful, knowing how to exploit this unique setting, which sublimates it as it was still the case with the Master Del Monte, a Grand Prix type class with one jump-off. Once again, the Italian course designer Uliano Vezzani created wonderful classes (he loves the arena) with a first round from which, of the 36 starters, ten couples have qualified for the jump-off won by the Colombian Carlos Lopez and his French horse Ulhane de Condé. An event where Penelope Leprévost was back, fifth of this class, with one of his new horses, Valdelamadre Clooney belonging to former world champion Jos Lansink. And after? After, everyone has flown in front of his screen for another world championship…
R&B Presse – Pascal Renauldon & Solenn Rispail