Canter makes it five

Ros Canter and the “spooky but genuine” Izilot DHI land the win, the rider’s fifth at five-star, after a week with plenty of leaderboard shuffling

- By GEMMA REDRUP

SOME perceive the German five-star at Luhmühlen to be one of the “softer” competitions at this level, compared with the likes of Badminton and Burghley. But the way this year’s showdown unfolded proved that it is foolish to underestimate the sum of its parts, despite the fact that dimensionally the cross-country isn’t enormous and it is a relatively flat track.

To prove the point, not one of the 47 starters completed on their dressage score and there were just 25 finishers.

Ros Canter and the 12-year-old Izilot DHI came out on top, marking Ros’s fifth five-star victory, while it was a second for “Isaac”, building on his 2023 Pau win.

Ros has always been honest about this horse's inherent spookiness and there is no doubt the limitless skill of his rider brings out his brilliant best, whereas with another pilot, he could be a virtually impossible horse to manage.

Ros started the week on a 26 dressage, which put her second and she remained in that position after a clear jumping cross-country round, picking up 2.8 time-faults. Laura Collett and London 52 had led for the duration of the competition, but a fence down on the final day meant they dropped to third.

“I'm a bit surprised, really - we're so thrilled that Isaac has come out again with confidence,” said Ros of the Zavall VDL gelding she co-owns with Alex Moody. “Some people think he’s a bit naughty, but actually, although he hasn't been an easy character, he’s really genuine, but also genuinely spooky.”

The win provided redemption for this combination, who dropped from first to fourth with two fences down and two time-faults in the final phase here last year.

“I blamed myself for losing the win and worked quite hard on how I presented myself today and the mental side behind it,” said Ros.

The five-star showjumping finished shortly after 11am local time, which is much earlier than other five-star events.