The Stable Magazine - April 2016

Longines FEI
World Cup Final
Keeping my toes crossed: Harrie Smolders’
and Emerald NOP
Photo: FEI/Arnd Bronkhorst/Pool Pic
Belgium’s Jos Verlooy and Sunshine
Photo: FEI/Arnd Bronkhorst/Pool Pic
Talking about his horse, Corbinian, he explained, “he’s done quite a few big classes with me just we haven’t
been so much in the results, we’ve had a lot of four faults and sometimes eight faults, never really because
of a lack of quality but because I can’t get to his quality, He’s a bit difficult to ride for me, I did two or three
nations cups last year and maybe four or five five-star Grand Prix classes and he was very good in the World
Cup in London. I felt then he was the horse for this final, I had the luck to be already qualified so I didn’t have
any pressure to get the points.”
Guerdat also made a joke at his own expense as tonight’s post-competition press conference was coming
to a close. When asked what made him decide to come back for the jump-off knowing that there are two
more rounds of jumping and that he might already be leading the standings he replied, “I’m not that good at
calculating, but I thought if I don’t mess it up completely I would be in the lead but I wasn’t exactly sure -
I’m here for the sport and not the mathematics!” he said.
When it comes to the crunch on Monday however, it looks very possible that the Olympic gold medallist and
defending Longines champion may well have the last laugh.
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