Holly Smith Unbeatable at Hubside Jumping

• Success for Great Britain and France in major classes at Hubside Jumping Grimaud
• Holly Smith fights off world class talent to take the CSI5* 1m50 class win
• Guy Williams scoops second behind Frenchman, Julien Epaillard in CSI5* 1m45

The Union Jack flew in the Gulf of St Tropez as Great Britain’s Holly Smith and Denver gave an outstanding performance to win the 1m50 CSI 5* speed class, at Hubside Jumping Grimaud yesterday (23/09/2021). In the CSI 5* 1.45m speed class, it was France’s Julien Epaillard with Usual Suspect d’Auge who took the win, with another success for Great Britain as Guy Williams with Rouge de Ravel came in 2nd.

CSI 5* 1m50 class

Lined up on the start with the World’s best, Daniel Deusser (#1) (ALL), Kevin Staut (FR), Mark McAuley (IR) and Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (BRE), it was Great Britain’s Holly Smith who finally came out on top in the big class of the day, the CSI 5* 1m50 class.

Piloting Denver, a horse with which she took part in the Tokyo Olympic Games, Smith made the most of the track designed by Cédric Longis. With 15 jumping efforts including 3 doubles, Smith used all her experience and sense of rhythm to win against the 32 other competitors.

I had the bad luck, or rather the luck as it turned out for me, to go at the beginning of the class,” she joked.

Denver has a lot of experience, he’s already taken part in Nations Cup classes, several Grand Prix classes and the Olympic Games, I tried to capitalise on that as much as possible. That’s what helped me to take more options and perhaps, be faster than the others. It’s my day!”

Frenchman Grégory Cottard and his grey mare, Cocaïne du Val, finished a close second in 65.94s. Simon Delestre and Chesall Zimequest took 3rd place in 66.18.

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CSI 5* 1m45 Class

39.68s is the time it took Julien Epaillard and the experienced Usual Suspect d’Auge to take the CSI 5* 1m45 speed class. Renowned as one of the fastest riders in the World, the Frenchman didn’t disappoint, beating the time of his compatriot Julien Gonin, who was the long time leader on Cymba (4th), by nearly 3 seconds.

It was an opening class, a good number of riders chose to use it as a working round for their horses while others tried to win, which was my case”,

confided Epaillard after the prize-giving ceremony.

Usual is starting to have a lot of experience and he was as responsive as ever, I’m pleased! Tomorrow he’ll be doing the 1.55m and normally the Grand Prix on Sunday but it’s not certain yet”.

Great Britain’s Guy Williams on Rouge de Ravel was second (40.40s), with French rider Edward Levy completing the podium with Confidence d’Ass (42.25s).

The highlight of the today’s competition will be the 1.55m CSI 5* Grand Prix which gets underway at local time, 13:40. Holly Smith and Guy Williams will, once again, battle for victory among the best in the World.

For more results, standings and entries visit online.equipe.com/fr/competitions/43566

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