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Having won the prestigious CPKC International grand prix in 2023, Martin Fuchs came into this year’s Spruce Meadows Masters bearing less pressure than usual.

That is, until the three-horse jump-off began and then that familiar unease re-emerged.

“Of course,” Fuchs, the 32-year-old Swiss rider, acknowledged. “I wanted to win. I was actually quite upset with myself for not giving Leone Jei the best chance in the jump-off because I over-rode the brown oxer, pushed him into the pole because I was thinking already of the next fence. I was a bit mad at myself but today was our day and I’m glad that even though I made a big mistake myself that we could still win.”

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Astride the excellent Leone Jei, Fuchs, first in the jump-off, took down the third fence and finished off in a time of 40.22. Irishman Darragh Kenny and VDL Cartello dropped the same obstacle and, needing a better time, instead also took a pair of time faults in 43.84. Germany’s Daniel Deusser, knowing he just needed to go clear aboard Killer Queen VDM, even at the risk of a time fault, instead had all kinds of trouble down the last line, knocking down a pair of jumps for eight faults.

Fuchs is the third rider to win back-to-back International grand prix at the Spruce Meadows Masters: Scott Brash won in both 2015 and ’16, while Rodrigo Pessoa did likewise in 2000 and ’01. The win was worth a cool million.

“Great feeling to be able to secure a second win here, back-to-back, on my amazing horse,” Fuchs, currently eighth on the FEI rider rankings, said. “It was a bit of a different scenario than last year and I honestly didn’t believe after my rail that it would still be possible to win. The luck was on my side today.

“It was definitely disappointment,” he added. “Having two of the best riders in the world coming after me in the jump-off, normally it doesn’t happen that you can win with a rail down.”

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It doesn’t hurt that he’s partnered with an amazing 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding.

“He’s a fantastic horse,” praised Fuchs. “I’ve had him now for six or seven years. He’s always been performing really, really well especially in those majors. I think he’s jumped 13 majors and placed in 12 of them. He rises when it’s important, he’s always there when the majors are on and those for me are the most important classes in the year. I’m glad that I have such a wonderful partner that feels the same about those great shows.”

Kenny, second up in the jump-off, had a plan; albeit, it didn’t quite work out.

“I kind of knew going in he’s not the fastest horse in the world,” noted Kenny. “He’s 17. This was my first time jumping this grand prix; it was quite nice to make the jump-off already. I thought, okay, I can be smart and not take too much risk that it could work out. Unfortunately, I had the third jump down, I really didn’t expect that, and then I went as fast as I could but I was too slow already.”

Deusser, meanwhile, just needed to leave everything up. Easier said than done on this difficult course.

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“I knew my two colleagues had one down,” pointed out Deusser, who won this same event in 2022 on the same mare. “There was no option to go slow because the time was short. I was a little bit under pressure. I thought beating the time of Martin would be difficult for me.

“At the end, it’s a big question mark: what could you have done different in that moment? The pressure was on. At the end, I’m very happy she finished third and jumped three rounds like that. My two colleagues were better today so congratulations.”

The next stop in the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping is Geneva in December. Leone Jei will have a rest and get a couple of indoors shows under his belt in order to prepare for that critical show.

Germany’s Andre Thieme, who was the live contender for a bonus from Rolex as he had won the grand prix in Aachen, rode DSP Chakaria to eight faults and failed to advance to the second round. The top Canadian finisher was Erynn Ballard with De Flor 111 Z Santa Rosa and that pairing collected four faults in the first round.

Spruce Meadows CEO Linda Southern-Heathcott announced on Sunday that the prize money in this class will be augmented from $3M to $5M for the facility’s 50th anniversary in 2025.

In the 1.45m class earlier in the day, the Enbridge Cup, American Kyle King and Odysseus were the champs.

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