Saut Hermès: Paris’ radiant Show Jumping rendez-vous

The setting for the photogenic competion is the glass-topped Grand Palais on the Right Bank between the River Seine and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Inaugurated a few years after the nearby Eiffel Tower for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, the Beaux arts-style building is one of the most recognizable structures in the French capital – incorporating a classic stone facade, Art Nouveau ironwork and glass. In fact, the Grand Palais is said to be the largest existing ironwork and glass structure in the world, containing more steel than the Eiffel Tower itself.

From Friday to Sunday, 50 riders and 96 horses from 16 nations at the 5* level will compete on courses by Spanish course designer Santiago Varela Ullastres and his French counterpart Grégory Bodo, with giant chess pieces, rocking horses and Paris shopfronts among the possible obstacle designs. The highlight will be the €400,000 1.60m Grand Prix CSI 5* on Sunday afternoon.

At the Grand Palais, the height of the jumps and the technicality of the course — including the relatively constrained ground space and the different light and shadows cast through the glass and steel roof — make it one of the most demanding classes on the international circuit. Still, speeds of 350m/minute are expected from the elite horse-and-rider combinations negotiating the tight space in search of the title.

Last year, out of 47 pairs to start the event under the opulent glass roof and mixed skies, only three had clear rounds to advance to the jump-off: Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander, Ireland’s Bertram Allen and France’s Penelope Leprevost.  In the tie-breaking jump-off, it was only Tops-Alexander on California and Leprevost with Vagabond de la Pomme who repeated their ‘sans-faute’ (without fault) rides, with the Australian just edging out the Frenchwoman time-wise for the €132,000 victory. Leprevost’s second place was still worth €80,000. The young Irishman on Molly Malone incurred four faults, pocketing €60,000. 

Tops-Alexander and Allen (alongside his compatriot Denis Lynch) are back in Paris for the 2018 edition, although Leprevost is not on the entries list, having recently parted ways with her top horses. Five riders from Great Britain are also expected: Jessie Drea, Laura Renwick, Louise Saywell and Robert and Michael Whitaker. The Whitakers will be hoping to build momentum towards next month’s 2018 Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final, which will take place further east in Paris at the AccorHotels Arena in the Bercy district. This weekend, however, they will be up against the crème de la crème of European riders in the sport, with riders like De Luca, Deusser, Von Eckermann, Guerdat, Staut and Wathelet all on the entries list.

Also on tap at the 2018 Saut Hermès are performances of ‘Récréation’, equestrian choreography by Bartabas, founder and artistic director of the Versailles Academy of Equestrian Arts. As the description of the original artistic pieces puts it, “There is no human presence in the arena; 70 young Welsh ponies play the leading roles. In total freedom, they communicate through their bodies, respond to each other, and play.”