SWITZERLAND’S Martin Fuchs and his brilliant gelding Clooney 51 showed exactly why they are the European champions when scorching to victory in the third leg of the Longines FEI World Cup Western European League (WEL) at Lyon in France on Sunday.

The 27-year-old rider, who is number two on the current Longines world rankings, was back on familiar territory having also won this leg 12 months ago with the same horse, and rocketed to the top of the WEL after winning in the 13-horse jump-off.

They were chasing the target-time set by America’s Jessica Springsteen and RMF Zecilie who zoomed around the jump-off track in 41.85 seconds. Fifth-last to go, Fuchs and Clooney went one better, breaking the beams in 41.27 seconds.

“I was lucky to start at the end of the jump-off because I could watch Jessica as I know her horse has about the same stride as Clooney. So I planned to do like her, except I made one less stride to the last fence which made me win today!” Fuchs said afterwards.

Talking about her mare RMF Zecilie, runner-up Springsteen described her as “an amazing horse – it took me about six months to get to know her but now we are all set up and she is great!”

Fuchs meanwhile has the world at his feet, and is already looking forward to next year and what it will bring. “It’s a big victory today, Clooney was in great shape and he jumped wonderfully” he said, adding however that he’s not specifically targeting any more World Cup qualifiers with the horse

“I just wanted to do one (qualifier) with him so I can take him to the final if I need to, but because of the Olympic Games next year the plan is not to take him to Las Vegas. I will go to Verona, Stuttgart and London with other horses to try to qualify, and if I do then I will decide which horse I will bring”, the Swiss rider explained.

McAuley fourth

Louth’s Mark McAuley just missed out a place in the jump-off of the World Cup when picking up a single time fault in the first round aboard Vivaldi du Theil.

He had better luck in Saturday’s 1.60m class when placing fourth with Eva Lundin’s consistent gelding Miebello. The pair were one of four double clear rounds and their time of 43 second against the clock earned them €10,000. Victory went to Scott Brash and Hello Shelby (0/0 41.02).