Watch: Simon Delestre wins second straight €400,000 Grand Prix at Saut Hermès in Paris

As afternoon sunlight streamed down into the competition venue yesterday beside the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, several thousand spectators were on hand to see Delestre and Ryan advance from the first round field of 44 combinations and then race through the jump-off, clearing all the obstacles and stopping the clock in 34.68 seconds – faster than any of the other 14 horse-and-rider pairs who had advanced into the tie-breaker round.

Second and third overall in the class – the culmination of three days of action at the event – were Germany’s Christian Ahlmann and Dominator 2000 (34.86) and Spain’s Eduardo Alvarez Aznar on Seringat (36.15). The three riders pocketed €132,000, €80,000 and €60,000 respectively, while World No.1 Steve Guerdat of Switzerland, on Alamo, just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth. Full results with videos of individual rounds are here. Mark McAuley and Vivaldi du Theil were the top Irish finishers in 8th with Louise Saywell the top Brit on Jalellah OL in 22nd (Scott Brash retired from the class). To watch a replay of the Grand Prix in its entirety, see here. 

“Once again, it’s an incredible victory,” Delestre said afterwards in French. “Hermès Ryan rode two incredible rounds. To win two consecutive Grand Prix at this level with the same horse almost never happens.” Indeed, the competition – with its mix of light and shadows on a relatively tightly-spaced course – is seen by many as one of the most challenging tests on the international circuit.

And after their Grand Prix victory at the Saut Hermès last year, Delestre was already searching for new ways to express his admiration for his partner’s achievements there. “I no longer have words to describe this amazing horse,” he said of Ryan, whom Delestre and Philippe Berthol bought from top-level rival Eric Lamaze of Canada in 2008. “[He] is exceptional.”

With this last major rendezvous of the indoor show jumping season now concluded, many of the show jumpers will next head north to Gothenburg, Sweden, where the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final is scheduled to take place from April 3–7 at the Gothenburg Horse Show. For more information on the riders entered in the Final, see here.