Daniel Deusser of Germany and Equita van’t Zorgvliet emerged as champions of the Longines Masters of Los Angeles Grand Prix. The duo completed the course in an impressive 37.67 seconds, and were followed by Friday’s Longines Speed Challenge winner, Nayal Nassar (Egypt) riding Lordan, with Harrie Smolders (Netherlands) and Don VHP in third place.
Daniel now hopes to make history by winning both the Paris and Hong Kong Grands Prix and earning the brand new Super Grand Slam Bonus of 2.25 million euros. He gave full credit to his 12-year old mare after their Los Angeles victory: “I knew I had to try everything to beat [the time] and I took all the risks. She played the game today and she was amazing.”
The final day of the Longines Masters show also featured the EEM Grand Prix, which was won by the very popular French film actor Guillaume Canet. Guillaume is best known to New Zealanders as the star of the movie Jappeloup, based on the life of France’s 15hh black show jumping legend. He refused stunt riders for the film and rode all the scenes himself, including the re-creation of Jappeloup’s gold medal victory at the Seoul Olympics. Guillaume’s partner in the EEM Grand Prix was the 10-year-old grey stallion, SIEC Ciotto, a horse he’d met only a few days earlier. “I really wanted to win and Ciotto delivered – that was amazing,” he said.
US amateur rider Hilary McNerney was popular winner of the all-female Sam Edelman Grand Prix with her mare, Z Acodate DDL, who she describes as “just perfect”.
The Longines Masters Grand Slam of Indoor Show Jumping is now in its second season, and is already established as one of the most prestigious equestrian events in the world. It was created in conjunction with EEM (European Equestrian Masters) and inspired by the Grand Slam tennis tournaments. The next two legs are: Longines Masters of Paris, December 1-4and Longines Masters of Hong Kong, February 10-12, 2017
