Germany’s Deusser launches World Cup campaign in style in Oslo; Irish and British not far behind

Deusser and Cornet raced to the finish line in 36.83 seconds with no rails down to win a seven-pair jump-off (the final, tie-breaking round of a Show Jumping class) in the World Cup event, collecting 375,000 Norwegian kroner or around 40,000 euros in prize money. In second place was France’s 2016 Rio Olympic Team gold medallist Kevin Staut with For Joy van’t Zorgvliet HDC, while Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander was third with her mare California. Tops-Alexander has been getting back into elite equestrian competition after giving birth to her daughter earlier this year.

At the press conference after their victory, Deusser explained how he has come to be competing with Cornet in recent months after the horse’s previous partnership with the United States’ Lauren Hough: “Lauren asked me to help her a little bit with him in July,” he said, “and it worked out good so my owners, Stephex Stables, bought him for me to ride and I’m really happy with him!”

“He’s very sensitive,” Deusser added, “you have to get to know him a little bit but he has great character — he wants to help you…. In the end, he wants to win and he has a great instinct in the ring!”.

The top five finishers in the jump-off at Oslo’s Telenor Arena all had clear rounds, while Ireland’s Bertram Allen and nine-year-old bay gelding Izzy by Picobello, and Mark McAuley and 13-year-old grey gelding Miebello, each had four faults, coming in 6th and 7th respectively. Great Britain’s Michael Whitaker and his 10-year-old bay gelding Calisto Blue finished just outside the jump-off tie-breaking round in 8th after a fault in the opening round. The full results are here.

The top 18 riders from the Western European League series will qualify for the Paris Final, with riders also qualifying from parallel leagues around the world. At the previous Final this past spring in Omaha, Nebraska, the winning combination was the United States’ Mclain Ward and HH Azur. The current standings after the opening leg for the Western European League are here. 

The next stop in the Western European League series, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is Finland, at the CSI5*-W Helsinki International Horse Show from October 18-22. There are 13 qualifiers in this year’s circuit, with competitors’ top seven results counting for the overall standings.