The younger set took over in the $500,000 Bainbridge Grand Prix Saturday night at the Winter Equestrian Festival, with 24-year-old Emilie Conter of Belgium earning her first 5-star victory. Great Britain’s 25-year-old Olympic team gold medalist Harry Charles was the runner-up, edging Swedish world champion and world number one Henrik von Eckermann.
Her 5-star victory brought instant fame to Emilie Conter, and had spectators clamoring for her autograph.
“I’m super surprised I won,” confessed Emilie, who bested Harry’s jump-off time of 43.33 seconds on Sherlock with her mark of 42.43 seconds aboard Portobello van de Fruitkorf.
Harry noted he was happy with second place, explaining, “I didn’t plan on jumping Sherlock in too many of the bigger classes under the lights; he’s still quite green at night, but tonight he jumped better than I could have hoped. I thought the course builder (Alan Wade) did a great job.”
grand prix; 6645, SHERLOCK, HARRY CHARLES; Sportfot
Henrik, 44 — two decades older than his chief rivals in the class — has been working on some issues in jump-offs with King Edward. He was a bit cautious in the tiebreaker and finished clear in 43.88 seconds for third place.
“I felt I needed to go two steps backwards and get a little more confidence again in it,” noted Henrik. Whatever position he is in, he’s used to handling pressure.
“I like to go in the ring and feel the pressure. The day I don’t feel the pressure it’s time to put the hat on the shelf, because the excitement is not there when it should be. I’m just so happy I have a horse like this and try to enjoy every round I have with him.”
Emilie, who rides for her family’s Stephex stable, noted she added strides with her mare twice in the jump-off.
Emilie Conter on her way to victory before a packed house.
“I wasn’t supposed to do that,” Emilie admitted, “but she was super quick off the floor. I think to the last line I made up some time. Every week got better with the mare, so she’s maturing. I saw a really long [distance] to the last oxer and I heard Helena (Stormanns, her trainer) scream ‘go get it!’, so I took it. I didn’t think it was going to be enough to beat these other riders, but I looked up and saw that I was in first.”
Discussing her 10-year-old mare, Emilie said, “When I first started riding her, she was a bit colder, but always had massive scope. When she was younger, she was not so impressed with the small jumps but now the bigger the fences, the better she jumps.”
Emilie is ranked 79th in the world, and third in the Under 25 category.
Seven entries from a field of 41 at Wellington International were fault-free. Big things were expected from world number two, Kent Farrington of the USA on Myla, but his current winning streak ended when he had a rail at the A element of the double that was the penultimate obstacle on the first-round course. He is only 29 points behind Henrik in the world rankings, and a win in the 5-star would have helped boost his standing.
No U.S. riders were on the podium for the 5-star, where Emilie Conter was the winner, Harry Charles (left) the runner-up and Henrik von Eckermann was third.
Another top U.S. rider, McLain Ward, was back this week after a month off for a spinal injury following a fall. He also did not make the jump-off after having two rails down with his Olympic mount, Ilex, as feisty as usual, putting in a big buck after the first fence.
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