Rolex spokesperson Daniel Deusser rides "BINGO STE HERMELLE" at ashley Neuhof at the 2022 Spruce Meadow Masters ©️
On the afternoon of September 11, 2022 local time in Calgary, Rolex spokesperson, German rider Daniel Deusser and "Killer Queen VDM" won 1 million Canadian dollars (about 5.3 million yuan) and 250,000 euros (about 1.7 million yuan) as the only two rounds of the SPRU GRASS Grass Masters Rolex presented cp international grand prix with zero penalties. Daniel Dusser topped the spruce again during the same Rolex obstacle course Grand Slam competition cycle, after winning the 2022 Dutch Masters, where he will receive extra bonuses as is customary.
Swiss riders Steve Guerdat and "Venard de cerisy", who made a name for themselves at Spruce last year, failed to defend their titles this year, but finishing runner-up on this route is also a great honour. Belgian rider Gilles Thomas finished third, and "Aretino 13" wrote their own legend in this Canadian classic grass race.
It is the third leg of the four-stop Rolex Steeplechase Grand Slam every year. As early as 5 days ago, the world's top combinations of people and horses have successively come to the spruce grass masters. The Rolex Cp International Grand Prix presented the Spruce Meadow Masters with a total of 41 pairs of people and horses, including 13 of the world's top 30 riders.
After the first round, the top 12 man-horse combinations will advance to the second round. Two rounds of zero penalties will move into the playoffs for championship honours.
Daniel Duser and the "Killer Queen VDM" summit spruce meadow masters Rolex present the CP International Grand Prix
Spruce grass has its own characteristics, the grass field has a height difference, not a typical horizontal field, and the venue is about 1100 meters above sea level. Second, one of the traditions of this traditional Canadian race is the variety of obstacles. They collect obstacles of different colors and shapes from all over the world, and this year's route has seen obstacles from the Beijing Olympics, as well as obstacles from the Tokyo Olympics, and even a statue of the "Little Mermaid" placed in the obstacle course of the World Championships in Haining, Denmark, this year.
Spruce Grass Masters arena
The first round of the route is 570 meters long and allows 86 seconds. There are 14 groups of obstacles, 16 jumps. The biggest challenge in the first round was the 4-meter-wide open water barrier, followed by a three-step combination of seven steps. The Swedish Combo Obstacle Course consists of a single horizontal and a double horizontal log with a rainbow of colors, and many riders have chosen small turns here.
The first to play was Rolex spokesperson, French rider Kevin Staut and his beloved horse "Visconti du Telman". As the starting duo, the duo played steadily and calmly in the first half, but scored two consecutive shots in the 8th double combination obstacle to finish the game with 8 free throws and 81.32 seconds. After the completion of this pair, the two consecutive pairs of people and horses did not play well and ended with retirement.
Rolex spokesperson Kevin Stott rides "Visconti du Telman" at ashley Neuhof at the 2022 Spruce Meadow Masters ©️
It wasn't until the 22nd pair of centaurs, Belgian rider Gilles Thomas, 24, and his 14-year-old Horsedan horse "Aretino 13", took the stage that the audience's long-awaited first pair of zero-penalty cents finally appeared. The Belgian rider, although young, played in an orderly manner throughout the race, and when he reached the last Rolex obstacle, he still performed calmly and calmly, and finally won the first zero penalty point in the first round of the race, with a completion time of 84.72 seconds.
Rolex spokesperson Daniel Deusser rides the "Killer Queen VDM" at ashley Neuhof at the 2022 Spruce Meadow Masters ©️
The highly anticipated German rider Gerrit Nieberg and the horse "Ben 431" made the 24th appearance. Just two months ago, the pair became unexpected "dark horses" at the Rolex Grand Prix at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, winning the race undisputedly. This time, the pair of centaurs is still playing steadily, "Ben 431" is like the star of the equestrian arena, he is so focused and stable, just when everyone thinks that the second pair of zero penalties is about to be born, the duo lost in the 9th vertical obstacle that allowed the 6 pairs to score 4 penalties, and finally finished the race with 82.23 seconds and 4 penalties.
Rolex spokesperson and British rider Scott Brash made his 30th appearance. He won the silver medal at the Rolex Grand Prix at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen in July 2022. He is still the only rider to win a Rolex Steeplechase Grand Slam. This time, he and "Hello Jefferson" played well in the first half. As an experienced rider in the race, his eyes are rulers, and he holds the distance very precisely. Unfortunately, the 9th vertical barrier remains the most confusing existence, where he and German rider Gerryt Nieberg both lost. In the end, he finished the game with 4 obstacle penalties and 1 time penalty.
Rolex spokesperson Scott Brasch rides "Hello Jefferson" at the 2022 Spruce Meadow Masters ©️Ashley Neuhof
Steve Gorda is back in spruce meadows and he will fight for the defending title. "The Spruce Meadow Masters Rolex Presentation CP Grand Prix is one of the classic equestrian events and one that I have always dreamed of winning. She has a long history, she is one of the hardest venue obstacle courses in the world, and winning her is a huge achievement in itself. This year, I also came with the hope of victory. He did well in the first round, and after confusing the two championship-winning favourites, Gerryt Niberg and Scott Brasz, on the 9th hurdle, he was very cautious and careful, and finally finished with 85.53 seconds on zero penalties, and the time control of the whole race was perfect.
Rolex spokesperson Steve Gorda rides "ALBFÜHREN's MADDOX" at the 2022 Spruce Meadow Masters ©️Ashley Neuhof
The 35th-appearanceing rider, Harrie Smolders, currently no.7 in the world in the course of obstacles, made no obstacle mistakes but received a time penalty after skipping the final 14th Rolex hurdle. It can be seen that the difficulty of the game is not only to complete the route perfectly, but also to control the time. With its wide grounds and wide obstacle frames, even experienced riders struggle to balance obstacle jumping with time control.
At the end of the first round, only 4 pairs of centaurs scored zero penalties, which showed the difficulty of the route of the SPRU GRASS GRASS MASTERS Rolex presented the CP International Grand Prix.
The route of the competition is still led by Leopoldo Palacios, the designer of the FEI course obstacle course. In an interview, he said that as a site obstacle course designer, his prerequisite for doing this job is to love horses. Route designers need to be driven to work by the passion of loving horses, not for money. It's important to understand horses, to be able to read their expressions, to understand when they are happy and when they are sad. At the same time, to be a good route designer you need to be able to find a good balance between technical skills and feelings. The best route is one that allows the riders to compete well, not that each pair of centaurs competes with the route you design.
FEI Venue Obstacle Course Designer Leopoldo Palacios
"The happiest thing is to see the riders pass the route." Palacios said, "The most memorable one was the day rolex spokesperson, British rider Scott Brash, won the Rolex Steeplechase Grand Slam. The spruce grass arena was packed that day and the International Ring fell silent until Brasz jumped over the last hurdle, the audience boiled over, and the audience shouted "Hello Sanctos" in unison. ”
"I also very much hope that this game will have such exciting pictures. According to the level of the people and horses participating, there are about 30 pairs of combinations that have a chance to win this time. As people understand horses and rolex obstacle course slams more deeply, so do the opportunities. Palacios explained.
In the second round, there are 11 obstacles, 14 jumps, and the allowable time is 72 seconds. There are three double combination obstacles, and the 10th double combination obstacle is the difficult to see brown-black double Liverpool obstacle. The combination of water barriers and the famous "Dutch Bike" obstacle are extremely challenging combinations. As Rolex spokesperson and Canadian rider Eric Lamaze put it on the sidelines: "Winning the first round is not the hardest, the second round is the real challenge to the existence of the centaur combination." Riders need strength, caution and courage, and their riders must know this. ”
Dutch cycling obstacle course
The first obstacle is a narrow brick wall, and the race starts with a challenge. Swedish rider Henrik Von Eckermann, who is currently ranked no. 1 in the world in the steeplechase, lost the first brick barrier with his horse "King Edward" and then played in the 3rd hurdle, losing two consecutive shots in the double Liverpool hurdles to end up with 16 free throws in the second round, with a total of 20 points in both rounds.
Swedish rider Henrik Von Eckermann ©️spruce meadow ins
Rolex spokesperson, Swiss rider, world number two Martin Fuchs followed up with the horse "Leone Jei". The Swiss rider won the FEI Steeplechase World Cup final earlier this year and won the Rolex Grand Prix at the Geneva International Equestrian Festival at the end of 2021. They finished with zero penalties in the second round, but had four penalties in the first round.
The performances of Steve Golda and "Venard de cerisy" in the second round are still very relaxed, and such a difficult route seems to be easy and simple in front of this person. The audience cheered and screamed, but unsurprisingly he scored two rounds of zero penalties.
©️spruce meadow ins
Rolex spokesperson and German rider Daniel Düsser, who won the 2021 Aachen World Equestrian Festival and the 2022 Dutch Masters. In the first round he and his horse ,Killer Queen VDM," finished with zero penalties. In the second round, the pair still played steadily, and got two rounds of zero penalties without error.
American riders McLain Ward and "HH Azur" won zero penalties in the first round with their extensive experience in spruce grass competitions. In the second round, just when everyone thought he could finish well, he scored the 10th of the double Liverpool obstacle course and missed the play-offs.
In the final play-offs, only 3 pairs of men and horses competed, and they qualified for the competition through two rounds of zero penalties. Steve Golda and "Venard de cerisy" debuted and traveled very fast, finishing in just 41.7 seconds. But the speed also secretly marked the price tag, and they need to bear the risk investment of 4 obstacle penalties. As one of the young riders, Gilles Thomas and "Aretino 13" were able to break into the playoffs, which proved their strength, but in the play-offs, Lady Luck no longer cared, and when he rode "Aretino 13" out, the two obstacles needed to be restored, and the penalty column on the display was the number 8. The final appearance of Daniel Duter with "Killer Queen VDM" opened the championship through with zero penalties, finishing slightly longer than Steve Gorda and "Venard de cerisy". Apparently, Daniel Duser won the bet, Steve Golda got the shortest finish time and one obstacle mistake, and Daniel Duser won zero penalties and spruce meadow's iconic black-gold planet trophy.
A tribute to the spruce meadows, a tribute to the classics. Coming to the spruce meadow is like coming to the home of an equestrian. Over the past 51 years, more and more of the world's top riders have begun to understand this place, and there are countless outstanding canadian local equestrian athletes who have set off from here and achieved international results. For professional riders in Canada and elsewhere, spruce meadows are undoubtedly a treasure trove.
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, who came to spruce meadows in 1990, may not have imagined at the time that the influence of spruce meadows can continue to this day. Spruce meadows represent people's passion for equestrian sports. She is special, representing the equestrian character and atmosphere of a country, a region. She is monumental, the return of the Spruce Meadow Masters every year is like a grand festival that must be passed every year, and only after experiencing this iconic event can equestrian people feel as if they have passed an important point in the year and are moving in a new direction...
Text/Men Jingyu Editor/Wan Fulin