Devon Horse Show Grand Prix Analysis by JumpClear

The Devon Horse Show's feature event is the Thursday night $250,000 Sapphire Grand Prix of Devon CSI 4*.  This year's class was designed by Olaf Petersen and featured a 16 obstacle track, contested by 30 horse and rider combinations.   

We saw a total of 24 faults in Round 1 (1.20 faults per entry).  7 entries (23%) of the class jumped clear.   

The final line of the course - repeatedly referred to as "heartbreak alley" on the live commentary - accounted for 46% of Round 1 faults! The single most faulted jump came at 12A, the vertical Combination-In element of the Vertical-Oxer Double set off the short turn (21% of faults).  Jumps 12B and 13 (a Liverpool Oxer set as the last jump off a related technicality) each accounted for 13% of faults.

The jump immediately preceding this line - a Liverpool Vertical set towards the ingate - also accounted for 13% of faults. 

5 jumps on course were never faulted.

In total, Combinations accounted for 50% of faults which is significantly above average for a High Performance class but this was driven by the final double, noted above; the triple combination at 5ABC drove just 17% of faults.

The class was won by Mclain Ward on Contagious for his 12th win in this grand prix!