Rating or form? How the weekend's two Grands Prix were won

Going into the weekend, we asked one question of both Grands Prix: would the top-rated horse win, or the one in form? Vienna and Greenwich gave two different answers.

In Vienna, Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames Combella won a fast eight-horse jump-off. The mare arrived with the second-highest Elo in the field and the best rating of her season. In Greenwich, Daniel Bluman and Corbie V.V. were the only pair to jump two clear rounds, a year after finishing second at the same show.

Combination statistics below cover CSI5* 1.60m and major championship results prior to last weekend's competition.

Vienna: Hinners wins the jump-off

Eight pairs went clear in the first round, and five of them stayed clear against the clock. Hinners set the mark at 43.13 and nobody could match it.

Combella at her peak

Sophie Hinners & Iron Dames Combella came to Vienna with an Elo of 767, the highest the mare has ever reached. Hinners arrived as a freshly crowned team world champion with Germany, and she left with the Grand Prix.

It was Combella’s third win at the five-star level with Hinners, and her second of 2026. The pair have gone clear in 16 of 32 rounds together, on courses where fewer than three in ten horses go clear. The mare did not win in 15 classifications at this level with Shane Sweetnam before joining Hinners.

Fredricson pushes close

Peder Fredricson & Alcapone des Carmille finished 0.47 seconds behind in second. The 16-year-old started the weekend third on the Vienna Elo list at 761, so two of the three highest-rated horses in the field filled the top two places.

Olivier Philippaerts and Hipster SV took third. Gudrun Patteet and Sea Coast Qarvaljo d’Or, one of the best clear-round records in the field coming in, went double clear for fourth. Yuri Mansur and QH Alfons Santo Antonio were the fifth pair to jump two clears. Katharina Rhomberg and Colestus Cambridge, the best home chance, finished seventh.

Greenwich: one double clear

Six pairs went clear in the first round in Greenwich. The jump-off decided it. Only Bluman came back clear again.

Bluman turns the tables

Twelve months ago, Daniel Bluman & Corbie V.V. finished second in Greenwich behind Kent Farrington. This time Farrington was the one chasing. Bluman was fastest of the first-round clears in 72.85, then went clear again in 44.26 to win.

It was Corbie’s second win at the five-star level, from 29 classifications. The 2026 season had been quieter for the mare, with one clear from eight rounds at the level coming into the weekend. Her longer record carried the weight here. Corbie has gone clear in 15 of 28 rounds at 1.60m, on courses where the average clear rate sits under 25%.

The form horse finds the podium

We picked Kent Farrington & Descartes SR as the form horse in Greenwich, and they delivered a fifth podium. Their jump-off was the fastest of the day by two seconds at 41.31. One fence down left them second on four faults, ahead of McLain Ward and Lestro vd Valckenborg on the same score.

Shane Sweetnam and Coriaan van Klapscheut Z, the top-rated pair in the field, had four faults in the first round and finished eighth. Mark Bluman and Landon de Nyze, second on the ratings, won the qualifier earlier in the week. They went clear in round one of the Grand Prix and retired in round two.

Next up, the Asian Games jumping gets underway in Tokyo and the Longines League of Nations Final heads to Barcelona. Rating or form, who are you backing when the teams take over?