St Gallen, Switzerland – May 31, 2019 – Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Venard de Cerisy came back from behind to win the €150,000 Longines Grand Prix of Switzerland CSI 5* yesterday during the Longines CSIO St Gallen 5* in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

The two-round 1.60m class featured 41 combinations in the first round, with only Pénélope Leprevost (FRA) and Vancouver de Lanlore and Bryan Balsiger (SUI) and Clouzot de Lassus being the only ones to go advanced to the second round without any penalties. They were joined by 9 other combinations, all of them carrying a score of 4 to the decisive phase.

Guerdat (SUI) and Venard de Cerisy, a 10-year-old bay Selle Français gelding (Open Up Semilly x Djalisco du Guet) were among those who had a score of four in the first round. The current number one ranked rider in the world took the lead after not only posting a clean run in the second round but also putting a little bit of pressure on the rest of the field by going around the track in 47.62 seconds.

In a remarkable twist of fate, his strategy worked since all the other combinations had at least the same score and registered a slower time, giving him an unlikely win.

Arthur Gustavo da Silva (SUI) & Inonstop van’t Voorhof

The home nation claimed the top two spots on the podium since Arthur Gustavo da Silva (SUI) on Inonstop van’t Voorhof (Nonstop x Fortuin Z) also only had a total four penalty-points carried on from the first round, clinching silver honors in 48.03 seconds.

Laura Renwick (GBR) and Dublin (Vigaro x Calvados/Sable Rose) repeat the scores of the previous two men, finishing third with a time of 49.47 seconds in round 2.

Steve Guerdat (SUI) & Venard de Cerisy during the awards ceremony