BY JEAN LLEWELLYN / PRESS RELEASE
PHOTOGRAPHY: CHI GENEVA
The first day of CHI Geneva already celebrated a legendary name in showjumping, when British rider Donald Whitaker scored a class victory in the Trophée de Genève during his first appearance in this historic arena.
It will naturally remain a fond memory for him, following in the footsteps of his famous uncles, John and Michael, when he confidently rode his grey mare Millfield Colette (Cornet Obolensky - T-Chi Chi x Clearway, bred in German by S. Jaggar) to victory ahead of the other favourites in the coveted Trophée de Genève, the main event at the start of the CHI.
As is well known, the Trophée de Genève is more than just a legendary competition at Palexpo. For the riders, it is the first opportunity to qualify for Sunday’s Rolex Grand Prix. An opportunity that the 49 pairs competing in this important tournament tonight did not want to miss. “It’s a challenging course”, explained Switzerland’s Bryan Balsiger a few minutes before the start of the competition, speaking into the microphone held by Alban Poudret, the CHI’s sporting director, alongside Gérard Lachat, who designed the course together with Grégory Bodo. All riders had to demonstrate finesse to reach the finish line without faults.
The Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping title holder, the only rider in the world to have already won this Grand Slam, was the first to compete: Britain’s Scott Brash, two-time Olympic team champion, gave the audience a demonstration of his riding skills on his trusty Hello Jefferson (Cooper van de Heffinck - Hovis x Irco Mena). Just over two months earlier, the pair has brilliantly outpaced the best in the world to claim the CPKC Grand Prix presented by Rolex during the 50th anniversary edition of the Spruce Meadows Masters.
On this occasion the audience had to wait for the 15th pair to make it into the jump-off with a clear round, namely Austria's Max Kühner on EIC Daloubet (Diamant de Semilly - Bonita Z x Baloubet du Rouet). In total, nine pairs found the key to this first course, but it’s noteworthy that another seven riders remained clear but were too slow and incurred a time penalties.
A unique jump-off!
The jump-off provided a great sporting moment. Scott Brash was the first to start, but he was a little too ambitious (eight faults). Max Kühner set the first reference time of 50.02 seconds, but this was immediately beaten by Germany's Christian Ahlmann and his agile Dourkhan Hero Z (Sea Coast Don’t Touch Tiji Hero - Znka de Kalvarie Z x Zandor Z) with 46.73 seconds. Could this time be beaten? Everyone tried. The stands even shook when Swiss rider Edouard Schmitz and his horse Gamin van’t Naastveldhoff (Tannehof’s Chacco Chacco - Feria van’t Schrijberg x Toulon), who had achieved an ultra-fast time of 44.01 seconds (fifth place), knocked down the last fence! But in the end, it was the last starter, Donald Whitaker, who prevailed with his incredible Millfield Colette in 45.15 seconds. A beautiful victory and genuine joy on his first visit to Geneva...
