Another silver for Simon Delestre and Dexter Fontenis Z

A week after their fine^2nd place in the Longines Grand Prix of Basel, French rider Simon Delestre and his top horse Dexter Fontenis Z produced another cracking performance! The duo competed at the Partner Pferd five-star competition in Leipzig, Germany, last weekend and secured a podium place in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup there yesterday afternoon.

With the Leipzig World Cup competition already underway yesterday, the ^11th stage of the season in the Western European League was once again a particularly exciting and sensational one. As in the previous stages, 40 combinations appeared at the start and 13 of them managed to complete the basic round designed by track builder Frank Rothenberger and his team. One of those 13 was Simon Delestre with his 12-year-old gelding Dexter Fontenis Z, the son of Diarado and Voltaire who was bred by S.C.R.I S.Ky Horses and whom Delestre thus also shone on Swiss soil last week. As the very last combination to start, Delestre and Dexter Fontenis Z once again confirmed their excellent form, as with another flawless round they were once again good for a brilliant^2nd place.

Simon Delestre: "The top three is always something special, I'm really happy with that. For Dexter, this was his third Grand Prix in a row where he was on the podium again and I am very proud of that! Dexter is fast on the ground, I can ride the same number of canter jumps with him as the others without any problem. I tried to be fast but not ride too recklessly. It's also important to collect some points."

Who also managed to qualify for the jump-off were Belgian rider Rik Hemeryck and the 11-year-old gelding Inoui du Seigneur, a son of our stallions Jenson van 't Meulenhof Z and Aganix du Seigneur Z from the breeding farm of Marc Vanlangendonck. Hemeryck and Inoui du Seigneur also managed to go clear again in the jump-off and this performance earned them ^7th place in the standings.

The qualification for this Longines FEI Jumping World Cup took place on Friday evening and in it, French rider Kevin Staut and his 9-year-old mare Vida Loca Z (Vigo d'Arsouilles x Cornet Obolensky) came out strong. In this 1.55m class against the clock, Staut guided the breeding product of Soc. Aagricola A.R.I. Edeldame safely to the finish line in 56.25 seconds, which earned them ^5th place in the standings.

Also taking ^5th place was Swiss rider Steve Guerdat and the 11-year-old mare Emerine Z, a daughter of Emerald van 't Ruytershof and Camus from the breeding farm of Souleika Cretskens. Guerdat and Emerine Z made an excellent start to their competition straight away on Thursday, as they managed to take this ^5th place in the 1.45m opening class.

Youngster Tour

In addition to the five-star competition, Leipzig also hosted a Youngster Tour for 7- and 8-year-old horses over the past few days, in which several Z-horses made themselves heard. On Saturday morning, for example, in the 7-year-old horses there was a victory for Belgian rider Jules van Hoydonck and the gelding Calgary van 't Hageland T&L Z, a son of Corydon Van T&L and Denzel van 't Meulenhof bred by Sonja Seels, Lieven Roete and Luc Tilleman of T&L NV. Van Hoydonck and Calgary van 't Hageland T&L Z, also good for ^9th place on Thursday during the opening day, rushed to the finish line in 56.74 seconds in this speed class, putting them 1 hundredth of a second ahead of the competition.

In the opening class for the 8-year-old horses on Thursday, German rider Marvin Jüngel managed to jump into the limelight with the gelding Don Corleone Z, a breeding product of Joachim Specht who combined the blood of Dominator 2000 Z with that of Contendro I. Jüngel and Don Corleone Z produced a flawless round, resulting in ^6th place.