Two Continents, Two Firsts

Two Grands Prix on two continents, and two firsts. In El Jadida, Kiliman Sitte won at the five-star level for the first time. In Tryon, McLain Ward won his first Major League Show Jumping Grand Prix.

The two winners arrived from opposite ends of the experience scale. Jérôme Guery and Kiliman Sitte had two rounds together at this level. McLain Ward and High Star Hero had 27, and four wins.

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

El Jadida: Guery and Kiliman Sitte break through

Eleven pairs came back for the second round, and four of them had started clear. Only two stayed clear. Guery finished 1.34 seconds faster than Chloe Aston.

Two rounds together, then two clears

Jérôme Guery & Kiliman Sitte had jumped two rounds together at this level before El Jadida, and both had come with faults. Their courses had been on the friendlier side, with about three horses in ten going clear.

In El Jadida the 10-year-old stallion went clear twice. He came in on 665, the highest Elo he has reached. With Jur Vrieling, Kiliman Sitte had one clear from four rounds at this level. This was the horse’s first five-star win.

Delestre fastest in the second round

Chloe Aston & Akito von Rocherath Z were the only other double clear, and took second. Simon Delestre and Golden Boy DK set the fastest time of the second round, 41.28, after four faults in the first, and finished third. Roberto Previtali and Christian Marini both started clear but had faults in the second round, finishing fifth and ninth.

Two recent winners were also in the field. Abdullah Alsharbatly and Diriyah, winners of the Rabat Grand Prix in Morocco a week earlier, finished tenth. Anthony Bourquard and Fontaineblau Manciais, who won the World Cup of Morocco two weeks ago, were 13th.

Tryon: a first MLSJ Grand Prix for Ward

Six of the 37 starters went clear in the first round, and three stayed clear in the jump-off. Ward was fastest of all six, 1.62 seconds ahead of Christian Kukuk.

A fifth win, and a new one for the list

McLain Ward & High Star Hero came to Tryon with four wins and seven podiums at this level. Saturday was their fifth win together, and Ward’s first in a Major League Show Jumping Grand Prix.

The pair had gone clear in 10 of 27 rounds together, on courses where about one horse in four goes clear. High Star Hero came in on 740, four points off his best Elo of 744.

Bluman follows Amenia with third

Christian Kukuk & Akarad Tivoli Z were the second double clear. A week after winning the 50th MLSJ Grand Prix in Amenia with Landon de Nyze, Mark Bluman was third on Genial de B’Neville, the last of the three on zero.

Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz, the second highest-rated horse in the world, had four faults in the jump-off and finished fourth. Daniel Bluman and Corbie V.V. were fifth. Kent Farrington and Greya were seventh, the quickest of the four-fault first rounds.

A breakthrough in Morocco and a new first for Ward in North Carolina. Experience or momentum, who are you backing next weekend?