By Oriane Grandjean
Photography: FEI/Massimo Argenziano
As usual, CHI Geneva leaves room in its rich program for Swiss breeding. In addition to the Super Final of the Swiss Breed Classic, the best seven- and eight-year-old horses had the honour of treading the main track at Palexpo on the last day of competition.
This year once again, these youngsters showed the full extent of their talents and the least we can say is that Swiss breeding has nothing to be ashamed of.
On a course of 13 obstacles, the nine competitors did not let themselves be impressed, with only one pair penalized with 12 faults, and all the others recording four faults or less. There was, of course, some signs of shyness among some of them as they are rarely confronted with such richly decorated fences as those of Palexpo, with its Christmas trees, colours, and flowers.
Starting in second place, the elegant Coltair’s Rubin CH (Coltaire Z x Andiamo) ridden by Agathe Vacher, impressed with her jumping ability and ran a course of disconcerting fluidity. A clear round and a fast time put this talented mare at the top of the ranking. But two other horses subsequently overtook the lead: Firefox Champlong CH and Elastic Vert CH. Under the saddle of French rider Axelle Lagoubie, Firefox (Quite Capitol), born at the home of former ZVCH president Michel Dahn, remained focused throughout her course to move into first place, even if she was then unnerved by the giant screen as she left the track. Second place went to Elastic Vert CH (Curtis Sitte) and Moreno Pichierri. This son of Curtis Sitte was born in the French speaking part of Switzerland as he was bred by the late Michel Werly.
Zora claims the spotlight
Seven three-year-old horses competed in Saturday’s Super Final of the Swiss Breed Classic before the eyes of two judges, Sylvain Montigny and German Olympian Lars Nieberg. Certainly, the young Swiss horses impressed the numerous spectators crowded around the arena and, with a total of 8.58 points, Reto Härdi’s protégé Zora vom Quellhof CH won the class. This daughter of Casall x Cassini II already has the look of a future showjumping star as the beautiful mare, out of elite dam V-Cassita, already won the title of Swiss vice-champion at the CH selected mares competition of the ZVCH in July 2022. In second place was Cristobal K CH, presented by Fritz Krebs, and sharing third place Chalaco CH (Conteur), bred at Jean-Daniel and Vincent Blanchard’s stables, and Gioya CH (Glasgow-W van het Merelsnest)... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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