Hong Kong, China – February 01, 2026 – France on Top! Roger-Yves Bost (FRA) and Ballerine du Vilpion raced to victory in the grand finale of the 2026 Longines Hong Kong International Horse Show CSI 5* at the Asia-World Expo. The main challenge of the week featured a15-effort course designed by Bernardo Costa Cabral (POR) with 12 1.60m obstacles spread over 250 meters.
Twenty-one combinations entered the ring in the first round and neither the course nor the time allowed seemed to be a major problem since ten of them managed to leave all the poles up and cross the finish line within the time allowed of 66 seconds, thus qualifying for the tiebreaker.
In the end, it came down to a duel between two fast Frenchmen. Roger-Yves Bost (FRA) got the upper hand over Simon Delestre (FRA) by guiding the 15-year-old chesnut Selle Français mare (Balou du Rouet x Quidam de Revel) across the finish line in 34.94 seconds.
Simon Delestre (FRA) was also very fast on Golden Boy DK, but their time of 35.21 seconds would be good enough for silver honors.
After a third-place finish with the same mount in the Longines Stakes the previous, Johan Sebastian Gulliksen (NOR) repeated the feat with Equine America Harwich VDL, earning bronze honors in 37.60 seconds.
Final Results – €405,000 Longines Grand Prix of Hong Kong CSI 5*
1) Roger-Yves Bost (FRA) & Ballerine du Vilpion – 0 / 0 – 34.94
2) Simon Delestre (FRA) & Golden Boy DK – 0 / 0 – 35.21
3) Johan Sebastian Gulliksen (NOR) & Equine America Harwich VDL – 0 / 0 – 37.60
Source: Longines Hong Kong International Horse Show
Text: Jumper News, no reproduction without permission.
Photo: © LHKIHS
