The French National Anthem, La Marseillaise rang out three times during le Grand Complet held at the beautiful venue of the Haras du Pin in Normandy, France. The location for the dressage and cross country for the 2014 World Equestrian Games and the future venue for the 2021 FEI European Championships, Le Grand Complet ran almost for a whole week from 7th – 14th August with classes from 2* to 4* including the fifth leg of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup
The first French winner was Gwendolen Fer and Traumprinz in the CCI3*-S presented by Devoucoux, followed by Thomas Carlile in the CCI3*-L presented by Ustica, and finally in the major class of the weekend, the French team won the FEI Nations Cup class with Karim Laghouag taking individual honours. But, if there was one name to remember at the end of the event, it would be Thomas Carlile, who took second in the CCI3*-S, fourth in the FEI Nations Cup, and a hat trick in the CCI3*-L
It was a close finish between Italy and France in the CCIO4*-S FEI Nations Cup but France added to their three previous wins at this venue, despite the fact that they lost their top performing combination at the second horse inspection on Sunday morning. When Thaïs Meheust’s mare Qamilha was not passed and their first two riders rider into the arena, Jean Teulère and Clara Loiseau had rails, they needed a clear round to keep the lead, which Karim produced, almost to his surprise on Punch De L’Esques
“When I compete with Punch, I obviously dream of winning but I know that my place is probably going to be second or third because of his record” says Karim “It’s a great surprise, especially as the team relied on me for the victory and a team medal is really something special to me. To feel that extra pressure helped me. I‘ve had a few show jumping results with four faults this year on him which is really rare”
“I’ve been riding Punch since he was four years old and he’s 16 now. I probably needed a bit of pressure to believe in it and do all I could to get that clear round. My wife would say that I should ride more the Laghouag way and less as an American” he laughs “I’ve realised that I could ride him with more pressure and get a better result”
As well as taking team honours – the third in a row for France in the FEI Nations Cup, Karim Laghouag also won the individual prize in front of two British, David Doel and Kirsty Johnson.
CCI3*-S Devoucoux Trophy
Gwendolen Fer, from Toulouse, wanted to finish on a positive note after an unexpected fall from her other horse Romantic Love earlier on and she did that with a clear show jumping round on Traumprinz to win the CCI3*-S
“Traumprinz got hurt at Bramham (GBR) last year, so it was his come back here” said Gwendolin “Starting with a victory is always morally good although he‘s obviously overqualified for this class but we now know that we can trust him on all three phases. We’ll see if we’re coming back in September for the Grand National class or if we’re choosing to compete at Lignieres”
Following her, were Thomas Carlile with Cestuy La de l’Esques and Karim Laghouag on Triton Fontaine.
“I was actually beaten right from the dressage” explained Tom “I missed in my test, but his performance yesterday pushed us up the leader board. I did my best to win the class but Gwendolen has been faultless. I’m really satisfied with Cestuy La’s performance, he managed to erase our dressage mistakes and finished in second place so I must thank his Norman breeder Lauret Jamot”
CCI3*-L Prix Ustica
Tom Carlile is used to being on international podiums, but even he didn’t expect to have a one, two, three at Le Grand Complet
“I didn’t have it on mind when I arrived. I knew Birmane and Bary Louvo were to fight side to side for the lead as they have already competed at this level. I’m particularly satisfied with Zanzibar Villa Rose Z who is only seven years old and only started eventing last year. He qualified this year for the Mondial du Lion and I wanted to see him on a long format here”
“He’s the conformation of a 5* horse and has a great action. I thought the long format would better suit his gallop and I was right. The show jumping test is his weakest point but he recovered perfectly after the cross country and avoided the difficulties today. He totally deserves his second place”
In the lead with Birmane after cross country, Thomas had four penalties in the show jumping on the mare
“I think that Birmane’s rider’s been less efficient today than Bary’s one” Thomas laughed “She’s slightly better than the other two but I cut the curve to Fence 8 and I paid for it in full. She’s had a few slight muscles problems in spring and it’s only her second competition since that - she has to get her reflex back. Even if she’s a great show mare, she‘s sometimes overconfident. I wanted to give her an easy course to run for her confidence and strengthen her with the distance”
So it was Bary louvo, Zanzibar Villa Rose Z and Birmane in first, second and third places with Andrew Nicholson’s Spanish horse Argentino BK in fourth and the Belgian rider Senne Vervaecke in fifth place riding Jeno.
Full results here
