Martin Fuchs has won the Rolex Grand Prix of Spruce Meadows with Leone Jei. After two tough rounds, a jump-off against home rider Tiffany Foster and Figor was necessary to decide the winner. Bertram Allen took third place with Pacino Amiro (s.Pacino).

Winning at Spruce Meadows was a long-held dream for the 31-year-old Swiss rider. Fuchs said, "My father came here often and never won, but he always told me, ‘You need to win here once’. And now I've done it. I wasn’t too happy when I lost my stirrup though; I thought, ‘My father will be very angry about this.’ We’ve practiced endlessly on how to get the stirrup back without looking, but I only managed after the finish today. But Leone jumped fantastically."

First round
Thirty-seven combinations started in Canada on Sunday, with twelve qualifying for the second round. It was almost a given that this would include a few four-faulters. The 545-meter course on the undulating grass arena had several difficult distances built into it. Particularly the turn to obstacle eleven proved to be the undoing of many, including a number of top combinations. Behind this red vertical was the triple combination, which was already challenging on its own, let alone after such a difficult approach. Sweden’s Angelie von Essen and Alcapone des Carmille (by Diamant de Semilly) were the first to post a clear round after carefully approaching that notorious obstacle eleven. She finished just within the allowed time of 82 seconds. The fast Irishman Bertram Allen was the second to go clear in the first round. With Pacino Amiro (by Pacino), he sped through the first part of the course, allowing him more time in the tricky second section and still finishing with a fast time. This gave him the best start position for the second round.

Explosion of cheers
Martin Fuchs lost his left stirrup halfway through the course. The Canadian crowd could believe he rode one obstacle with only one stirrup, but as the stirrup continued to swing, the Swiss rider ended up finishing the entire second half of the course without it, including the extremely difficult line with obstacle eleven and the triple combination. This earned an explosion of cheers, something otherwise reserved only for the Canadians. KWPN horse Leone Jei (Baltic VDL out of Dara ster prest IBOP-spr PROK by Corland, bred by G.M. van Mersbergen from Udenhout) jumped fantastically, which was remarkable given that the grey horse had just competed in the challenging team competition at the European Championships the week before. To the delight of the large crowd, home rider Tiffany Foster also produced a clear round. Riding KWPN horse Figor (Querly-Elvis out of Voberlina stb prest by Indoctro, bred by H.W. van Lindenberg from Eefde), the Canadian rode a beautiful round. With a bit of luck in the triple combination, they became the fourth clear combination.

Challenging line
Although Elysium (s.Zirocco Blue VDL) hadn’t always stayed clear in the past few weeks, the white stallion looked particularly good this week in Canada under his regular rider Hans Dieter Dreher. The German combination was the fifth (and final) clear round. This meant that the seven fastest four-faulters also advanced to the second round. Among them was Germany’s Jorne Sprehe with the not-so-tall KWPN mare Hot Easy (Andiamo out of Double Easy vb prest sport-spr by Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve, bred by R. Teunissen from Terwolde), who saw a rail fall halfway through but later navigated perfectly through the challenging last line with the triple combination.

Jump-off
Foster was the first to start. The large obstacles were cleared again, though Figor tapped the back rail of the combination in the shadows. The Canadian then sped up to keep her four faults as fast as possible and minimized further damage. The task for Fuchs was then clear: stay faultless. The Swiss rider, however, had no intention of taking it easy. A rattle at the first obstacle—a triple bar—sharpened Leone’s focus. At full speed and with tight turns, Fuchs raced to the finish. His arm went up above the final fence: Fuchs and Leone could add the grand prize of 1 million Canadian dollars (about 685,000 euros) to their account. Erynn Ballard finished eighth with Gakhir (Spartacus out of Zakhira ster by Indorado, bred by Mts. van de Donk-Kooi from Vorstenbosch).

Results