Primo DV wasn’t fast enough? Pieter Devos Fixed That in Dinard

Il aura fallu 41 partants, un chrono au cordeau, un terrain qui tire dans les jambes et seulement quatre sans-faute pour trouver le patron du Grand Prix de la Ville de Dinard. Au bout d’un barrage réduit à trois, Pieter Devos et Primo DV ont eu le dernier mot. Une première victoire en Grand Prix 5* pour le produit maison du Belge, que l’on disait talentueux mais pas franchement pressé. Mauvais dimanche pour cette réputation.

Dinard, a postcard with obstacles

The hydrangeas are standing to attention. The Val Porée stands are packed to the rafters, colourful, as if answering the pink that has taken over Dinard for the weekend. On the Emerald Coast, everything is in place to bring this Rolex Series leg to a close.

Everything, Jean-François Morand included.

Because once the rails go up to 1.60m, someone has to cool the surrounding euphoria a little.

The French course designer had no intention of handing out departure gifts to the 41 combinations entered. A tight time allowed, strides that had to be fought for and, above all, this superb grass arena, far more undulating than it looks.

A detail that would weigh heavily in the horses’ legs.

Pieter Devos would confirm it afterwards:

“On television, you don’t really see it, but the arena goes up and down a lot. It takes a huge effort from the horses to jump fourteen fences on this grass arena.”

In short, to win Dinard, you have to jump. But you also have to gallop. And still have a little fuel left in the tank when it is time to come home.

Kühner opens the door. Then someone slams It shut

At first, however, you start to think Morand may have been too kind.

Second to go, Max Kühner immediately finds the key with Cooley Jump the Q.

Clear;

Good.

In the end, it’s fine.

Not a bit of it.

What followed looked more like a long debt-collection session. Clean, certainly. But still a massacre.

Steve Guerdat et Venard de Cerisy : 8 points. Julien Anquetin et Beau de Laubry Z : refus sur l’eau.

Thank you, bye bye.

Shane Sweetnam, winner a few weeks earlier of the 5* Rolex Grand Prix of Falsterbo, was the first victim of the clock with James Kann Cruz.

Alexa Ferrer? 12 faults.

Ben Maher? Same punishment.

Pénélope Leprévost and Victor Bettendorf, meanwhile, left with 8 faults.

And then there are those for whom the punishment comes down to one rail.

Just one.

The one that turns a Sunday into an “almost.”

Lillie Keenan, right to the very last

Lillie Keenan knows all about that.

The American had set Friday alight with two 5* victories. With Kick On, she seemed determined to keep the party going.

Everything looks easy.

The jacket matching the setup, the horse jumping, Val Porée looking as if it fits her like a glove: Keenan has everything going for her.

Untill the last oxer.

Boom.

She would be one of seven victims of that final difficulty.

No Jump-off.

Scott Brash and Hello Folie also stayed on 4 faults.

Marc Dilasser too, with Arioto du Gevres.

And for the Breton rider, the frustration was different again.

The pair had been cruising until then. The water had been cleared and Dilasser had already passed the plank wall branded in the colours of the Rolex Series cities when the decision came from the two judges responsible for checking the water-jump lath.

Four faults. Cruel. Very Cruel.

Meanwhile, Max Kühner was starting to seriously check his watch, wondering whether the clear round he had produced wearing number two was about to gain enormous value.

Spoiler : yes.

For the jump-off, bitte schön

It took Christian Ahlmann and Sheeran WL to see another clear round.

second clear.

At that point, the conclusion was simple: to make the jump-off in Dinard that Sunday, it was better to know how to order a beer in German.

But not only.

Pieter Devos also pulls up a chair at the table with Primo DV.

And the Belgian rider had to roll up his sleeves.

Primo is good. Very good, even. But he has never really carried the reputation of a horse capable of blowing up the timing cells.

Devos would laugh about it after his victory:

« “Everyone makes fun of me a bit because I don’t have the fastest horse. Now that’s over.” ! »

It must be said that the first round had already been a small personal victory.

The time allowed was so tight that Devos would admit he had thought it would be “practically impossible” for him to get inside the time.

He ultimately finished with more than a second to spare.

Which just goes to show: Primo may have kept a few extra horses under the hood.

Luciana Diniz and Vertigo du Desert then delivered the fourth clear round of the class.

It would be the last.

Four clear rounds from 41 starters.

Four clear rounds, but only three in the jump-off

Yet there would only be three combinations for the final act.

Luciana Diniz decided not to return with Vertigo du Desert, her horse for the World Championships.

From a sporting perspective, the decision makes sense just a few days before a major championship.

From a spectacle point of view, it inevitably leaves a slight taste of unfinished business.

Using a 5* Grand Prix as a full-scale rehearsal before closing the box again at jump-off time is rational from a sporting point of view. A little less tasty for the packed stands of Val Porée.

So one trio remains.

Kühner. Ahlmann. Devos.

Austria, Germany, Belgium.

And not much room left for calculations.

Kühner draws the knife

Max Kühner was first to return with Cooley Jump the Q.

Not exactly a novice.

The horse knows the exercise: this was already his tenth jump-off at this level. And he had come out clear in just under half of them.

Above all, the Austrian knows who is waiting behind him.

So he attacks. Hard. Very hard.

The clock is ticking and Cooley Jump the Q devours the ground. Kühner takes risks, notably trying to come to the blue oxer at a huge angle.

Perhaps a little too much.

The rail falls. 44.92 seconds. A blistering time.

With four damn faults. The door is open.

Ahlmann plays the old hand

Christian Ahlmann, for his part, does not fall into the trap.

That’s experience.

With his 10-year-old stallion, Sheeran WL, the German takes rounder lines. He secures his jumps and chooses the clear round over Russian roulette.

49.08 seconds. Clear.

The pressure then changes sides.

Pieter Devos knows what he has to do.

And even if Primo DV has never been presented as the TGV of the Belgian stables, the scenario is now playable.

Very playable.

Especially as Primo DV knows how to keep it clean when he returns for a jump-off.

Primo shifts into fifth

Devos sets off. He doesn’t panic. Neither does Primo DV.

The horse, a product of the family breeding programme, rolls through his jump-off with the diligence that characterises him.

He jumps. He turns. He touches nothing.

But it is not going very fast. At least, not yet.

Then comes the final line. And there, Pieter Devos shifts into fifth.

Primo opens up. The Belgian lets him go.

Final oxer. Timing cells. 47.42 seconds.

Done.

Pieter Devos has just won the 5* Grand Prix de la Ville de Dinard.

And above all, in his 32nd CSI 5* start, Primo DV has just claimed the first 5* victory of his career.

Not exactly the worst place to get off the mark.

A Homebred Horse, a Victory That Counts Double

At the finish, Devos is sweating as much as he is smiling.

Because behind the 47.42 seconds and the victory, there is something else.

Primo DV is a homebred horse.

A real one.

« “It’s a very special feeling. We bred him ourselves. My wife first competed in the young horse classes with him, then I took him over. Over the past few months, he has really been performing at the very highest level.” »

And inevitably, when the horse born at home ends up winning a Grand Prix like that, the story takes on another dimension.

« He really deserves this victory. He is a horse who always tries and always gives the best of himself. I’m very happy that he can now have a Grand Prix on his record. »

Especially this one.

Because Dinard gave nothing away.

A demanding arena. Elevation changes. A clock chasing you throughout the entire first round. And that final oxer, which collected faults the way others collect Rolex bracelets.

For Devos, the performance therefore says something about his horse.

“You needed a very respectful horse to jump the final oxer. The fact that he can win here says a lot about him. And, I hope, a lot about his future.”