‘I wanted to change the bit, Dad said just ride better!’ Special horse delivers dream win in $3m grand prix
Martin Fuchs of Switzerland is the new Rolex Grand Slam contender after winning the Spruce Meadows Masters grand prix on Leone Jei.
(Image credit: Spruce Meadows)
“He’s such a special horse. He gave everything today,” said Martin Fuchs of the 11-year-old stunning grey gelding Leone Jei, who jumped the only triple clear to win the $3m (£1.76m) CPKC International presented by Rolex at the Spruce Meadows Masters Tournament in Canada (6-10 September).
Martin, who was on the Swiss team that came sixth at the European Showjumping Championships in Milan with Leone Jei the previous week, also became the live contender for the next leg of the Rolex Grand Slam of Showjumping, at Geneva, which he won in 2019 and 2021.
“It’s one of my biggest dreams to win here,” said Martin. “My father Thomas was here plenty of times and quite a few times he was placed well in the grand prix, but he never managed to win. He always said this is the best show in the world and he pushed me to win one day here, and it’s today. It’s just wonderful.”
The renowned class, which features fences from previous championships including the Tokyo Olympics, is known as one of the most difficult in the world – and Leopoldo Palacios’ technical track delivered on expectations. The first real test of scope was a combination at fence four, a triple bar on a forward two strides to an oxer. The questions continued right to the end with a formidable final line in the first round, a 1.62m vertical then a steady six strides to a triple combination, catching out 10 of the 34 starters. It was then down to the final, and biggest fence on course, an oxer stretching 1.85m wide.
The first round produced only five clears, and the top 12 came back to jump another full second round in reverse order of faults and time. Tiffany Foster and 13-year-old gelding Figaro, and Martin and Leone Jei, left the fences up second time around to go head to head in the jump-off. Silence fell on the famous international arena as Tiffany set off, but when she knocked the second part of the double, it all came down to Martin to deliver the clear, and Leone Jei was happy to oblige, looking eager all the way and stopping the clock on 43.58sec.
“I had a scary moment in the first round where he jumped fantastic up to the Canadian planks, and then he jumped even higher and jumped me out of the saddle and I lost my stirrup and my left rein for a few strides,” said Martin. “Thank God it was a right bending line to the next fence and I could take the reins again and get it back together. But I still didn’t have the stirrup. It’s something I’ve trained on a lot with my father, he’s always said you need to be able to get your foot back in the stirrup without looking down – but I didn’t find the stirrup, and I was looking down – and I thought I hope he doesn’t see this right now.
“After the first round we had a discussion about changing his bit as he was so keen, but my dad told me that we shouldn’t do this and that I should just ride better!
“I was also lucky in the last as I had rub at the vertical where there were a lot of faults. But the rest he jumped beautiful, and in the second round and jump-off, I’m just so happy to have a horse like Leone Jei.”
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