Jumping World Cup Final: and the winner is… Deusser!
Daniel Deusser steered the 11-year-old stallion Cornet d’Amour to victory in today’s FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final at Lyon, France, pipping fellow-German and former FEI World Cup™ champion, Ludger Beerbaum, by a narrow margin. For 32-year-old Deusser it was a real test of nerve after moving into pole position at the end of the first round after Olympic champion, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat, lost his grip at the head of the leaderboard.
Just four horse-and-rider combinations produced double-clear rounds today, and they earned the top four places, with World No. 1 rider, Great Britain’s Scott Brash, slotting into third while Germany’s Marcus Ehning just missed the podium in fourth place while Guerdat lined up fifth.
« When I went into the second round I knew I had to be clear! I got my concentration and tried very hard, although I have to admit I was happy when I was finished! » said FEI World Cup™ Jumping champion who has brought the German tally of wins in this series to ten.
Deusser has been riding Cornet d’Amour since June 2012, and in their first big show together at Spruce Meadows in Canada they jumped double-clear in the Nations Cup. However the horse was injured in November of that year and out of action for two months. « In the end the break was maybe good for him because he came back out in February last year to win the Grand Prix at Wellington in Florida. We had a great year in 2013 including finishing fourth in the Grand Prix of Aachen! » said Deusser about his experience with the horse that also claimed the German Championship title at Balve before taking team silver and fifth place individually at the FEI European Jumping Championships in Herning, Denmark last August. Clearly this was a partnership on a mission. Yet the German hadn’t banked on going to the FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final until winning the Western European leg qualifier at Mechelen in Belgium in December.
« I didn’t ride at Oslo (NOR) or Helsinki (FIN) but I started in Verona (ITA) and had one down in the jump-off. It wasn’t until I won at Mechelen (BEL) that I started to get enough points to come here, although if you told me before I came here that I would win the Final I wouldn’t have believed it! But when you have a good horse you always have a chance » said the rider who collected his last qualifying points at the World Cup qualifier in Wellington, USA.
Second-placed Beerbaum said tonight he was really happy: « I came here as the very, very, very last rider from the reserve list, it was a rush to get here because I only knew I was coming a week ago. My horses were planned to go outdoors and they came here with no training for indoors so it is hard to believe the way it has worked out. The whole week could not have been better, and well done to Daniel, his performance with his horse the whole way through was incredible. I have no problem to be second to that: well done! »
Third-placed Brash said : « If I knew before I came here that I would finish third I would have been very happy too! On the first day I had the last fence down and it really cost me, after that we would struggle to get on the podium so it’s nice to be sitting here today! Ludger and Daniel were fantastic today as usual! »
Results
1. Daniel Deusser (GER) - Cornet d’Amour
2. Ludger Beerbaum (GER) - Chiara
3. Scott Brash (GBR) - Ursula XII
4. Marcus Ehning (GER) - Cornado NRW
5. Steve Guerdat (SUI) - Nino des Buissonnets
6. Maikel van der Vleuten (NED) - VDL Groep Verdi NOP
7. Beezie Madden (USA) - Simon
8. Pius Schwizer (SUI) - Toulago
9. Mc Lain Ward (USA) - Rothchild
10. Charlie Jayne (USA) - Chill R Z