Guerdat and Bianca win first 5* Grand Prix together at Windsor

The CSI 5* Rolex Grand Prix, which took place in the main Castle Arena on the grounds of Windsor Castle Sunday, brought together many of the world’s top-ranked horses and riders, including the United States’ Kent Farrington – making his return to high-level competition after an injury earlier this year. Other big names facing off in the flagship event included Great Britain’s Scott Brash, Canada’s Eric Lamaze, Germany’s Daniel Deusser, the United States’ Laura Kraut, Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca, Ireland’s Bertram Allen and Sweden’s Peder Fredricson.

In the end, ten horse-and-rider combinations out of the 30 starters had clear first rounds over the 1.60 m obstacles and advanced to the jump-off. Four rode clear again with no obstacles down, including Great Britain’s William Whitaker and his stallion Utamaro d’Ecaussines. But in the end it was Guerdat and Bianca who had the fastest of the clear performances, with a time of 43.11 seconds. Laura Kraut – who lives in Great Britain for part of the year – was second on Catwalk 22 in 43.52 s. Italy’s Emanuele Guadiano and Caspar 232 rounded out the podium (44.31 s). Whitaker was fourth while fellow Olympic champion Lamaze and Fine Lady 5 – who had the fastest time of all the elite pairs in the jump-off, 41.82 s, but finished with four faults – were fifth. Robert Whitaker was sixth with Catwalk IV while Allen and Hector Van D´Abdijhoeve were seventh.  

After their victory, Guerdat commented on social media: “Today was our first victory with princess #Bianca in a five-class Grand Prix. I’m [so] happy to win here. I love competing in this city. It is very special to me after my victory at the Olympics and now winning the #RolexGrand Prix at #RoyalWindsor – The show has a great crowd that appreciates what we do, the horses and the sport.”

Earlier in the five-day competition, which Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip attended this weekend, British Dressage stars Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester came out on top of the CDI4* competition, achieving promising results on up-and-coming horses Mount St. John Freestyle and Hawtins Delicato in advance of the FEI World Equestrian Games later this year in the United States.