He came to Bordeaux to do just that, and his goal was surpassed as he took the win and the 20 points that go with it, allowing him to look forward to the trip to Basel next April, an important event for a Swiss rider, as you can imagine. But the world number five will take home not only valuable points from his first visit to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, but also some truly wonderful memories.
1st place - Martin Fuchs - Conner Jei - CSI5 W LONGINES FEI WORLD CUP - ©ArtisteAssocié
« Bordeaux is one of those competitions that we need to promote, competitions with history, tradition and enthusiastic horse-loving spectators. Adding Bordeaux to my list of victories is very important to me. My uncle, Markus, and my father, Thomas, loved this event and had some success here, so I wanted to follow in their footsteps one day.” But Martin is the first to add the Fuchs name to the list of the Bordeaux World Cup winners. He owes it all to his 14-year-old gelding Conner Jei, a horse who is used to winning, as he did in the Dublin Grand Prix last summer: “I was a bit stressed because I really needed those points. But it was a perfect jump-off for Conner Jei: fast and big and my horse has enormous ability. There were a lot of faults in this jump-off, which helped me, but I was nervous until the end especially when Julien Épaillard entered. He was faster, but as luck would have it, he knocked down the last fence. »
In the end, he won by more than two seconds ahead of the Belgian rider, Pieter Devos. Devos, who has already won in Bordeaux in 2018 (with L'Espoir), was delighted to ride his Casual DV Z, the youngest horse on the start list, who made her first World Cup appearance in Bordeaux last year: “She was fifth and this year she's second, so you can say she has progressed (laughs). I love this mare, she's really exceptional: she did three World Cups this winter and was double clear each time. I'm going to ride her in the final in Basel. But I'd like to congratulate Martin, who was also very good today”, adds Devos with a deadpan sense of humour.
Winner in Leipzig, Dutch rider Willem Greve, completed the podium with Grandorado TN N.OP. He had the unenviable task of opening the jump-off, which is often a handicap: "But don't worry, that's not my only handicap," laughed the Dutch rider. Seriously, my horse jumped beautifully, confirming the great things he had already shown in Leipzig and Amsterdam. But I wasn't going to take all the risks, because my first goal was to secure the points I needed to book my ticket to Basel and ensure a clear round. The fact that all the other runners-up made mistakes pushed me up to third place, which is good for me. It's also the first time I've been to Bordeaux and I have to say I love the atmosphere and the crowd, you can tell they're connoisseurs.”
Fourth, and the fastest of the 4 faults (and even faster than Martin Fuchs and Julien Épaillard), Julien Anquetin from Normandy also qualified for his first ever World Cup Final thanks to Blood Diamond du Pont: "This will certainly be a great moment in my career. Despite the 4 faults, my horse was perfect, so there's not much more to say except that Jean-François Morand's courses were fantastic, well-built and very fluid.” The other three riders all agreed: “It was a course designed for the well-being of the horses, it was big, but I never felt that my mare was in trouble. She left the course without being exhausted," said Pieter Devos.
With this superb podium finish, another fine line has been added to the great history of the Jumping International de Bordeaux. An already important name has been added to the prestigious list of winners, with a surname that has won almost all the best classes in the world, from Calgary to Geneva (Grand Prix and Top 10 two months ago), runner-up in the World Championship in 2018 and of course winner of the World Cup Final in 2022: Martin, who will surely be back again here next year.