November 1, 2026 
What’s that? You’ve never heard of Hylanderhof’s Saruschka? You’re not alone.
Henrik von Eckermann is a familiar face atop the podium, but his mount in Friday’s Longines Grand Prix at Equita Lyon was anything but.
The 10-year-old Hanoverian mare has only 18 rounds at 1.50m and above on her record. All logged since January. Until this year, she’d never jumped higher than 1.45m in an international class.
But while she’s a relative unknown right now, look for that soon to change. In the past four months, Hylanderhof’s Saruschka has jumped to three podium finishes—and her first five-star Grand Prix win.
On Friday evening in Lyon, they were the only pair to produce two clear rounds in the CSI5*-W Longines Grand Prix—despite 12 starters qualifying for Santiago Varela Ullastres’s “tricky” short course.
Martin Fuchs and Lorde clocked the fastest time of the day of 43.99 seconds, but pulled a rail at the penultimate fence.
“I didn’t take the bend very cleanly,” said Fuchs. “I lost a bit of momentum going into the turn and ended up too close to the obstacle. I’m a bit annoyed with myself, because I would have liked to have ridden two really good rounds today. But I’m still pleased with this podium finish, just a few weeks after the one in Oslo. It was a tricky jump-off, but good fun to ride.”
By the time von Eckermann and the fleet-footed mare took to the ring, third from last, a careful clear in 49.47 was enough to seal the win.
“I was lucky enough to go out at the end of the jump-off, so I decided to play it safe and go for two clear rounds and, in the end, it paid off. I’m delighted with my mare—she was brilliant. She doesn’t have much experience yet at this level of competition. I’m taking things gradually because she is very sensitive and quite delicate. But tonight, she showed a lot of character in the arena. I just need to reassure her without trying to push too much.”
An underwhelming win for the crowd? Sure. But not for von Eckermann.
“I’d never won this Grand Prix before, but now I have, so I’m absolutely delighted!”
Skip to the 2:05 mark to watch their winning jump off.
