Written by Erin Gilmore
Luck was not with Roger Yves Bost on Saturday afternoon. During the prestigious Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Madrid CSI5*, his horse Pegase du Murier stood up on its hind legs and refused to go forward during the Round 2 phase. Yves Bost quietly rode through several dramatic rears, jumped one more fence, and retired from the class.
The opposite scenario occurred today, Sunday, during the Longines Global Champions Tour of Madrid’s finale day at the Club de Campo Villa Madrid just outside the city center in Spain. Yves Bost tacked up Quod’Coeur de la Loge, an 11 year old Selle Francis gelding by Ideal de la Loge, for the Kings Cup Trofeo El Corte Ingles CSI5*. He rode near the end of the order in the two-round class that saw the top 12 qualify to compete over a jumpoff track.
Yves Bost jumped a clear first round in his uniquely famous style, and returned for the jumpoff with the likes of Ludger Beerbaum, Constant Van Paesschen and Edwina Tops Alexander also in the running, It was Van Paesschen who came closest to matching Yves Bost’s time, but the young Belgian rider fell short by three quarters of a second, allowing Yves Bost to claim first place, and the trophies that accompanied the victory.
Once again, the country club destination where this, the third stop of the 2015 Global Champion Tour, was held saw thousands of show jumping fans pack in along the rails four and five deep to watch the best of the sport go head to head. Overcast skies kept no one away on this Sunday in Spain, and while the audience cheered loudest for their native representatives, they supported every rider with applause as he left the ring.
With the overall GCT series standing having experienced a shake-up over the weekend, all eyes now move to the upcoming events next weekend, when the Global Champions Tour will touch down in Shanghai, China for its fourth event of the season.