June 15, 2026 
Martin Fuchs, aboard his longtime mount Conner Jei, was first to go in the jumpoff. That unenviable position where a rider, not knowing what lies ahead, has little choice than to give it all he’s got and make them chase it.
And that’s what Fuchs did.
Or at least that’s what he appeared to do. The fact that his time of 41.03 seconds was eminently beatable hardly occurred to anyone. His ride-every-stride round was described by commentator Steven Wilde as “frenetic.” To me it was the equivalent of a warrior of old donning warpaint designed to cow and frighten the enemy.
It’s the Swiss after all. One of the glories of La Baule is the decades-old tradition of allowing the FEI horses access to the local beach (supervised by stewards, of course) and there isn’t a morning when the Swiss contingent isn’t out there on their five-star horses, splashing in the surf.
It’s no wonder Guerdat won the derby, a course of ditches, hills, and water, with Fuchs taking second—fast and faultless.
“La Suisse!” shouts a masculine set of fans in a low baritone from the stands whenever one of their countrymen enters the ring. Deep and persuasive, the war cry echoes across the arena, asserting dominance to the male attendees and kicking attendees of the feminine persuasion in the loins.
It’s effective. After Fuchs enters Julien Epaillard of France, whose round is smooth and tight, almost three seconds faster, but with a rail.
Next is Belgian Pieter Devos, who has done almost nothing all week but go clear. Rattled he is, and knocks two rails.
And then the glorious stallion Ermitage Kalone, who makes it look so easy you’re calling up your agent asking for a foal before his round is over. But Gilles Thomas of Belgium turns too tight to the third, driving the horse so deep that even Ermitage can’t get out without taking a rail with him.
Then we have Irishmen Bertram Allen aboard Qonquest de Rigo and Cian O’Connor on Chatolinue PS with nearly faultless rounds—nearly being the operative word, as they both score four faults with O’Connor exactly matching Fuchs’ time of 41.03.
I can picture Fuchs rubbing his palms together, imagining that everything is working out just according to plan, except he probably isn’t doing this because he knows what he’s up against: a sport that takes twice as hard as it gives and will throw you a twist of fate as quickly as a horse throws a shoe.
And here comes that twist of fate: Italy’s Piergiorgio Bucci, winner two weeks ago of the Rolex Gran Premio Roma at the Piazza di Siena, the first Rolex Series win of his career. It could hardly be expected that he wins again, on a different horse without the patriotic home-country crowd egging him on.
But win he does with a clear round, the only double clear besides Fuchs, with a time of 40.61, his partner 14-year-old gelding Hantano.
And now we’ve got something we didn’t expect to have and I think we should give it a name. Richard Vogel is the current Rolex Grand Slam contender with his wins at the Dutch Master and Aachen. Piergiorgio Bucci is the current—Lesser Slam Contender? Rolex Series Contender?
Next up is Falsterbo in Sweden—Bucci, we expect to see you there!
