While the national French soccer team played rather harmlessly in South Africa, the performance of France’s Kevin Staut and Major de Coquerie was rewarded with a victory – the Hespérides audience stood up to the Marseillaise at the end of the Touessrok Prix… much to the disappointment of Bill Twomey (IRL) who had been leading the class for a long time. But today the last (to go) came first (in the ranking), even though the rider had to somewhat slow down his horse at the end of the course.

“I know that my horse usually goes very fast which allowed me to reduce speed in order to jump the triple combination carefully (and even so, the horse touched the combination two times!). I am satisfied as it is the first time that the horse wins a high-level class.”

A performance that will encourage the horse’s surroundings to rethink its career one more time: “I have only been riding Major de Coquerie for four months. At the beginning I was riding the horse for commercial purposes, but I think that now his owner Raphael Dulan of Coquerie’s stud farm is glad to see how things changed. Major is placed everywhere… in Rome, in Anvers and in other CSI – and now we’ll see if he can pass on to the next level.” …Meaning that it will become clear whether or not the animal is able to participate in Grand Prix. But if Kevin thinks about this possibility, it almost means that he already has an idea… a case that is to be followed. The class took place in the Hespérides arena, which is definitely more modest than the Green Point Stadium in Capetown, but therefore certainly entertains its audience. Especially French fans in Cannes went home less frustrated than their companions in South Africa! Résult – Class n°4 « Prix Touessrok – Air Mauritus 1- Major de Coquerie & Kevin Staut FRA  0,00  61,382- Tinka’s Serenade& Billy Twomey IRL 0,00  61,823- Aranka & Olivier Desutter  FRA  0,00  62,584- Kiara la Silla & Rolf-Göran  Bengtsson  SWE  0,00 63,475- Nayana & Patrice Delaveau  FRA  0,00  64,396- Cha Cha Z & Judy-Ann Melchior  BEL 0,00  64,917- Calvie & Luciana Diniz  POR  0,00  67,668- Cristallo & Richard Spooner USA  0,00 68,45Photo Credit: Sportfot