FALSTERBO, Sweden--Karl Cook on Caracole de la Roque won the 500,000 Euro, 1.60m Grand Prix with an incredibly fast round on Sunday, July 13 in Falsterbo.

Karl Cook on Caracole de la Roque Cook won over a starting field of top riders in the two round class before a sold-out stadium.

Under the format of this class, the 13 with the fastest clean rounds made the second round, in which riders competed in reverse order of their time in round round, so Cook, who was five seconds the fastest in round one, went last in round two.

Round two served as the jump-off, with the fastest clean winning.

With Sanne Thijssen of Netherlands on Con Quidam RB leading on 43.74, Cook used his mare's speed to finish in 43.28, a half second faster for the win.

Steve Guerdat of Switzerland on Dynamix de Belheme was third, clean in 44.20.

"I'm so elated," said Cook. "It's a joy. "I'm so proud of my mare."

"It's nice when you go into a jump-off to know you have the speed," he said. "She's faster. I just had to keep up the ground speed."

"I thought I could handle the technical parts of the course," said Cook. "My mare has a shorter stride than some of the others, but she has the ground speed,"

"I love coming to Falsterbo," he said. "The crowd was amazing."

"Karl had terrific consistency in Falsterbo," said chef d'equipe Robert Ridland. "He's riding really well. This win came on the heels of a double clear in the Nations Cup."

 

"THE BAR was pretty high in round two," said Ridland, "But Karl knew what he had to beat. I've seen him do it before, so I wasn't that surprised."

"After the double combination, it was five or six strides to the next fence," said Ridland. "Karl felt it was safer to do it in six. Then from 11 to the last fence, he did what was similar to Steve Guerdat. It was a perfect ride."

"The crowd's enthusiasm elevated the sport," said Ridland.

"We had two good weeks," he said."We reversed positions, though. Last week in Aachen, we won the Nations Cup and were second in the Grand Prix, and here in Falsterbo we were second in the Nations Cup and won the Grand Prix. Everybody was pretty happy. They're having some champagne in the barn."

With 14 clear rounds and only 13 spots available, speed had been important in round one, and Cook was fastest in 77.69s,with Steve Guerdat, Peder Fredricson, Pedro Junqueira Muylaert, Matias Larocca, and Andreas Schou also advancing to round two.

Despite a perfect round, Amanda Eriksson was edged out by time, 14th at the end.

In a fiercely contested second round, double clears came thick and fast.

Max Kühner of Austria set the bar, clean in 49.40 seconds, Andreas Schou of Denmark raised it, and Thijssen lit up the arena with an electric 43.74, appearing unbeatable.

Guerdat came close in 44.20, and second to last to go Malin Baryard-Johnsson of Sweden thrilled the home crowd with a lightning round in 45.64s on H&M Indiana.

But it was the final rider — Karl Cook, last to go — who delivered a masterclass in precision and pace, stopping the clock at 43.28 and clinching a brilliant win in Falsterbo.