AT his ninth senior European Championships, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat was crowned the European jumping champion at the San Siro Racecourse in Milan, Italy, on Sunday afternoon, riding Dynamix de Belheme.

With a flawless run over four days of tough competition, as Italian course designer Uliano Vezzani tested Europe’s best riders, the 41-year-old former Olympic champion and his 10-year-old mare were the only combination to finish the week without fault from the field of 85 who started out in the quest for European glory. Their final score of 0.43 is the lowest on record in the history of the competition.

“I’ve never had an individual at the Europeans…” Guerdat said afterwards. “I am trying a long time!

"I brought the horse of a lifetime in Dynamix who I believe so strongly in, she’s been with us since she was five-year-old. It feels incredible to be the new European champion.

“I’ve been very, very lucky, even blessed since the beginning of my career. I’m for sure no better rider that this guy that sits beside me (Philipp Weishaupt), but he didn’t always have the same luck with his horses at a championship as I had. So for me to say that this is the best horse I’ve ever had - it takes a lot!” Guerdat added.

Germany's Philipp Weishaupt took the individual silver medal riding Zineday \ FEI/Leanjo de Koster

Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt claimed silver with the exciting nine-year-old Zineday while Julien Epaillard and the 10-year-old Dubai du Cedre finished in bronze medal spot for France.

Going into the final day, Guerdat was in the silver medal position behind Sweden’s Jens Fredricson, while Co Galway’s Michael Duffy held the bronze medal position with the 14-year-old mare Cinca 3, owned by Hibernian Sport Horses. They were the only three to not have a single fault over the first three days of jumping.

Fredricson, who led from the beginning of the competition with his failed riding school horse Markan Cosmopolit had their first fence down in the first round of Sunday’s final, before faulting again in the second round to eventually finish in fifth place.

Michael Duffy and Cinca 3 jumped three clear rounds at the FEI Jumping Europeans in Milan, finishing in 12th place \ Tomas Holcbecher

Cinca is the ‘complete package’

Duffy and Cinca 3, whose phenomenal performances early in the week lead the team to the silver medal, faulted at the last part of tricky triple combination and at the last fence in the first round of the final to finish with eight faults and he decided not to return for the second round, therefore finishing in 12th place.

Speaking to The Irish Field, Duffy commented: “She jumped unbelievable all week and we gave everything that we had to give. Championships are tough going, the weather was very hot. To be honest, I felt if I was clear in the second round of the final, I would have finished eighth and I didn’t think it was fair to put her out again. What is 12th to eighth… she is 14 years old and it wasn’t the right thing to do by her. We have an Olympics to aim for next year.

“She is as hard as nails, the complete package as a show jumper. "We’ve been challenging for a while now and it was great to get it done, to justify the belief we all had in buying her. She probably won’t do too much more now this year; we will start up again early next year with the goal being Paris,” he added of the mare who is owned by his family and the Nell family under the Hibernian Sporthorses banner.

Four Irish riders made it through to Sunday’s final, with Denis Lynch getting in in 25th place and he was first into the arena with the 10-year-old stallion Vistogrand (Fantaland x Mr Visto), owned by Parco Sport Horse EST. With two fences down, they finished their first championship as a combination in 20th place.

Eoin McMahon riding Mila to finish ninth at the FEI Jumping European Championships in Milan \ FEI/Leanjo de Koster

McMahon’s vote of confidence

Next to go, coming into the arena in 14th place, was Co Clare’s Eoin McMahon with Ludger Beerbaum Stables’ 11-year-old Mila (Monte Bellini x Linton), the mare on whom he took over the ride on from his boss when he retired from the sport earlier in the summer. They produced an excellent round, just faulting at the third part of the combination which was good enough to see him move through to the top 12 final round in 10th place.

After another four-fault round, he moved up to ninth to finish his second consecutive European Championships in the top 10. “I was delighted with it,” McMahon told The Irish Field after returning home to Riesenbeck this week. “I didn’t know the horse that well; until now I hadn’t really been that consistent with her.

“The problem we had was when Ludger got hurt in Doha, I started riding her, then I got hurt and he rode her again… then he retired and I got her back! So to be fair to her, she had a few changes in a short space of time and no two people are the same, he is quite a lot taller than me.”

McMahon added: “It is the first time in my life I ever had a horse a good as her.

"It’s a privilege and a nice vote of confidence to get her.

"We hope now we can secure her, we are trying our best to do that. I think I can do the Olympics if everything goes well, it will be nice to give myself a shot at that.

“The rough plan is I’d like to go to Barcelona [Nations Cup final], then Riyadh and Prague. Because of the injuries to us, she has only done about five shows all year. She came home last night and she is really fresh this morning, it doesn’t take too much out of her.”

Shane Sweetnam and the Irish Sport Horse James Kann Cruz (Kannan x Cruising), bred by Patrick Connolly in Co Galway, were among the favourites going into the competition and after a week of solid jumping for the team, finished with two parts of the combinations down in 13th place. The Connolly family, who have gotten great joy from the 10-year-old gelding, did not travel to Milan but were watching closely on the livestream.

Special horse

The top three in the final round of 12 were separated by less than a fence so the competition was not over until the last fence was jumped.

One pole down from Guerdat and Weishaupt would have overtaken the 2012 Olympic champion for the coveted title. But once the Swiss star overtook team gold medallists Jens Fredricson and Markan Cosmopolit for the lead, he had the look of a man who wasn’t going to let anything get in his way.

As he rode into the ring, last to go, he was holding the lead but with Weishaupt snapping at his heels and Epaillard just a whisper further behind, he needed to muster all the experience he has gathered down the years.

And with the horse of his dreams under him, he calmly brought home the gold that has only been held in Swiss hands twice before, by Willi Melliger partnering Quinta in Gijon in 1993 and by his close friend Martin Fuchs riding Clooney in Rotterdam in 2019. Fuchs was by his side on Sunday walking the course and warming up, and was spotted celebrating with the team when he crossed the finish line.

He’s now making no secret of the fact that his next big target with his mare is the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Asked how he managed to keep so cool under pressure, Guerdat said he just tried to make that final round like any other.

“I didn’t do anything different because it’s my job to go clear every week, every Sunday, every championship, every day this week. My mare was in great form so I just try to keep her fresh because it’s her first championship and she was a little bit tired today after the first round so I tried to save the jumps, just do five or six jumps before the last round and try to stay focused on what I have to do and I knew she wouldn’t let me down.

“She’s a very, very special horse so I just try to focus on my job so she can express herself at her best, and that’s what she did and I’m delighted with her and the result,” he said.

It is clear he has thought the world of Dynamix for a very long time. “I have had so many special horses throughout my career, but I didn’t want to put pressure on her by telling everybody I have a new superstar but we knew it, or we hoped for it. And we were just trying to let her develop the way she had to develop. Basically, she has all the qualities that all my superstars have had and she has it all in the one horse, and that’s why she’s very, very special!

When Dynamix gets home to Switzerland she’ll get a nice surprise. “Up to today she still wasn’t allowed to have her own big picture in my indoor, there are a lot of very special horses in there. We have a lot of amazing pictures of Dynamix and I’ve had a bit of a fight with my wife because she thinks she should already be up there. But today she did something great so her picture will be up there tomorrow,” the champion said.

Careful

Weishaupt said he has also been careful not to pressurise his young horse, Zineday. “It wasn’t in my plan at the beginning of the year to come here because Zineday is only nine-years-old, a year younger than Steve’s horse - quality-wise not far away these two horses - but I need to listen to him to know how he is and go step-by-step, show-by-show. I also tried to keep him a bit in the background and make sure not too many people ask me how good he is.

“But after Aachen (where the pair finished third in the Grand Prix) there was no more chance to hide it - even blind ones could see how good he is by then. He did it so easy in Aachen, so I took him to a show in Riesenbeck and he came back very strong. I thought okay, he’s only nine but he’s ready for the championship and he will learn and get experience during those five days. I went day-by-day this week, I didn’t have any expectation.

“He jumped fantastic and I’m more than delighted with the result. At the end Steve was the only one jumping all days clear, and I wasn’t.” The only fence the pair had down came in Friday’s team final.

Fantastic week

The ‘flying Frenchman’ as he is unofficially titled, Julien Epaillard said he had a fantastic week with Dubai du Cedre. He jumped double-clear in the final to move up from overnight fourth into that bronze medal position. For the second championships in-a-row, Britain’s Ben Maher finished just off the podium in fourth place with Faltic HB.

“My mare is only 10-years-old and it was my first championship with her and she doesn’t have that much experience. She had two down during the week, both my fault because I don’t know her well enough,” Epaillard explained.

“The course designer created a fantastic show this week”, he continued. “I think Uliano did a very nice job. Every day there were very technical rounds, today the final was perfect I think. The first round very strong and difficult, the second a little bit easier, but with the pressure everyone, including the horses, were a little bit tired.”

There was no sign of tiredness when the medallists rode their victory lap to bring a truly thrilling week of sport to a close, with Guerdat adding individual gold to the European team gold medals he won in 2009 and 2021.

“I have the horse that everyone is looking for, so we do our best for her and bring her in the best of form for Paris,” the gold medal winner added.

What they said:

“We have the dressage Europeans here in Riesenbeck this week, we are all involved in that, so we are going to have a party to celebrate on Sunday night. Ludger is happy, Philipp [Weishaupt], myself and Christian [Kukuk] were all in top 14!” – Eoin McMahon on celebrating two silver medals won by riders at Ludger Beerbaum’s stable

“Highland President is home-bred by me and my wife Caroline and her parents Ian and Heather Black. I know him pretty well, it’s quite romantic to breed a horse and bring it all the way to a championship. He’s been a brilliant horse.” – Trevor Breen

“He’s a great horse, he’s still learning, obviously this is his first Championship so hopefully we’ll learn a lot about each other in it.

"He always comes out jumping and trying his best, he loves his job. "He’s very talented, has a big presence, he really does stand out, a big grey horse and a lively fellow - he’s all energy and he definitely stands out.” - Shane Sweetnam talking about the Patrick Connolly-bred James Kann Cruz (ISH)

“The thing we are most proud of is we have in excess of 30 riders competing in five-star Nations Cups this year. I’m so proud to be involved with people who are that good and love the sport that much. They put the country first and they make my job easy.” – chef d’equipe Michael Blake

“Michael [Blake] found the decision difficult and I completely respected it. The fifth man is equally as important as the fourth or the third at any championships and I’d emphasise that to any of the younger riders coming through.” – Denis Lynch

“It’s great for my parents, after years of slogging away at ponies to be here. They are thrilled.” – Michael Duffy