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Tuesday, December 26, 2017
2017 was full of twists and turns, with many memorable moments, both happy and sad... A look back at this year of beautiful sport, and the main events we remember at Seaver.
Kevin Staut's magnificent victory in the Rolex Top Ten at the CHI de Genève (2nd from France only) will long be remembered. Staut is also the best French rider of the year, consistently in the top 10 of the FEI rankings, with 6 months in the top 5, including 4 in third place this year.
On the French side, Julien Epaillard also had a remarkable year, with a number of major victories: World Cup Bordeaux, Global Champions Tour Paris Eiffel Jumping, Longines Speed Challenge Paris, World Cup London...
Peder Fredricson won the European Championships (which are held every 2 years): he became European Champion after being crowned Olympic vice-champion in Rio last year. Ireland is European Team Champion, led by Rodrigo Pessoa.
McClain Ward was impressive at Omaha: 4 clear rounds on 4 courses; winner of the speed event, the Grand Prix and the World Cup Final.
This year's revelations for us are the Italians Alberto Zorzi (numerous podium finishes, including victory at the Global de Monte Carlo) and Lorenzo de Luca, who is having his best year yet with numerous fine victories (Global de Valkenswaard, Paris Eiffel Jumping, Global de Shanghai...).
The surprise of the year: Pedro Junqueira Muylaert's victory in the Grand Prix de La Baule.
Nick Skelton, Olympic champion in the team event at the London Olympics and in the individual event at the Rio Olympics, retired at the age of 59 at the same time as his crack Big Star.
The 2017 edition of the Grand Prix du Saut Hermès will have left us with a bitter taste, with a course that seemed too hard and almost trapping for horses and their riders.
The year was marked by many fine sporting performances, including victories by Simon Delestre in the Grand Prix Coupe du Monde de Lyon, Bosty in Rome, Daniel Desseur in Oslo, and Bassem Mohamed in Doha, to name but a few. Harrie Smolders won the Global Champions Tour by a wide margin.
Impossible not to mention Queen Isabell Werth, who once again had a remarkable year, breaking her record in January at the Amsterdam World Cup, winning almost all the major events, and ending her sporting year with 3 horses in the world's top 6.
We all remember his fine victory in the European Championships, after a summit duel with Sönke Rothenberger who revealed himself there. In the Grand Prix Libre, the young German, aged just 22, put in an incredible performance that earned him 2nd place with a score of 90.614%, just a hair behind Werth (90.982%). In fact, it was the first time that such a competition had seen two couples surpass the 90% mark.
This year, Hans Peter Minderhoud achieved what could almost be described as a feat, beating Isabell Werth for the first time since the Rio Olympics. In the Reprise Libre en Musique at the World Cup in 'S-Hertogenbosch last March, the Dutchman scored an average of 84.890%, compared with 83.300% for Werth.
This feat was repeated in October at the first World Cup dressage event (Herning), where the young Danish rider Cathrine Dufour won on home soil ahead of the world number 1.
As for the French riders, Ludovic Henry and Arnaud Serre put in a fine performance at the World Cup Grand Prix in Lyon. The two riders put in fine performances in excess of 70% in the Freestyle Grand Prix. In fact, Ludovic Henry broke his personal record in Salzburg a few weeks ago, with a superb recovery scoring 75.6%.
Our French riders also put in a fine performance last July, winning the Nations Cup at Hickstead.
Last but not least, José Letartre was the best French rider at the European Para-dressing Championships, taking 4th place with a score of 70.243% - just two hundredths off the podium. Two of the four French riders took part in the Freestyle Grand Prix: Céline犀利士
Gerny finished 5th and José Letartre 6th in their respective categories.
Gwendolen Fer scored the biggest victory of her career at the CCI 4* in Pau, moving up from 86th to 24th place in the world. It's the third French success in a row in this competition, after Astier Nicolas and Maxime Livio.
Michael Jung puts in another superb performance, retaining the world number 1 title he won over 2 years ago. In particular, he won the FEI Classics circuit.
We salute the performance of Karim Florent Laghouag, king of indoor cross-country. The Frenchman won the Bordeaux indoor cross-country race for the 3rd time, most recently in Paris, and then repeated the feat in Geneva for his last outing of the year.
We all remember Germany's Bettina Hoy's magnificent performance at the European Championships. She came close to her personal dressage record with one of the most beautiful repeats in history (24.6) at a major championship.
At these European championships, Germany lost its team silver medal after Julia Krajewski's horse Samourai du Thot tested positive.
We're proud of France's Maxime Livio, who is currently ranked 3rd in the world.
Other notable wins include Andrew Nicholson at Badminton, Karim Laghouag at Pompadour, and Astier Nicolas at the Mondial du Lion.
Horse Ball : for the first time in 25 years, the favorite French team lost to Spain (golden goal test after a 7-7 match) and finished 2nd in the European Pro Elite Championships. On the other hand, the French team prevailed (7-4 over Spain) in the Ladies final, and the under-16s also won a new European title in their category (12-5 over Italy).
Voltige : Clément Taillez, Vice-Champion of France, wins bronze medal at European Championships. German Erik Oese was crowned European champion. The French team performed less well, unfortunately having to withdraw to preserve their horse Wizner.
Couse (Galop) : French and European record for Christophe Soumillon, with 302 victories in 2017.
Reining : 3rd place for the French at the World Junior Reining Championships, with a fine gold medal for Axel Pesek (17).
Driving : another outstanding performance by Switzerland's Jérôme Voutaz, who won two European championship titles (marathon and handling) and became runner-up to the untouchable Boyd Exell (Australian - 7th title at this level). The number one once again won almost every major event this year, only being beaten at the World Cup stage in London by Dutchman Ijsbrand Chardon.
Olympic Games : it's now official, the 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris.
This year of 2017 was also marked by slightly sadder events. First of all, the end of Equidia Life, which had been sharing the passion for horses and equestrian sports with as many people as possible since 2011.
We would like to pay tribute to Espoir de la Mare, who passed away at the age of 25. The French saddle helped his rider Jean Teulère win numerous international titles, including individual World Champion and Olympic Team Champion.
Baloubet du Rouet also died this year, aged 28. This French saddle-saddle stallion犀利士
s sire, is the only horse to have won the show jumping World Cup final three times in a row. He was also Olympic champion under Rodrigo Pessoa.
Jean Rochefort, ambassador and defender of the horse world, actor and breeder, passed away at the age of 87. Fernand Leredde also passed away at the dawn of his 86th year. Creator of the Haras des Rouges (Normandy), he was the breeder of Quidam de Revel, a great show jumping stallion, and bred many champions such as Papillon Rouge (Olympic Champion - Show Jumping).
Finally, we were very saddened to learn of the death of promising French eventer Maxime Debost, only 29 years old and father of a little boy, following an accident on the cross-country course of the CCI 1* de Châteaubriand.
Now that we've reviewed 2017, we wish you happy holidays, and a great 2018!
The Seaver team
