At the Rolex FEI World Cup In Lyon this weekend, Swiss rider Beat Mandli galloped to victory in the third leg of the 2009/2010 series.

Riding the relatively inexperienced nine year old gelding Louis, who has been stepped up this season due to the absence of some of his other top rides, Mandli came into the 11-horse jump-off with all guns blazing and set them a blistering target that could not be bettered. The result moves him into fifth place on the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping leaderboard which continues to be headed by fellow-countryman Daniel Etter who won the first two legs at Oslo and Helsinki.

The popular Dutch duo of Albert Zoer and Oki Doki slotted into second place while Ben Maher and Wonderboy took third for Great Britain ahead of world number one Marcus Ehning from Germany partnering his 2006 Rolex FEI World Cup™ ride, Sandro Boy, in fourth.

Frank Rothenberger's 13-fence track produced plenty of excitement, and the time-allowed of 74 seconds accounted for three big names including the reigning Olympic champions Eric Lamaze and Hickstead. The Canadian rider was full of confidence after winning last night's Equita Masters at the French venue which has won widespread praise from riders and spectators alike. But Hickstead was hot to handle today and although Lamaze brought him home clear, his battle for control cost him dearly as a single time fault kept him out of the jump-off along.

The difficulties were spread all around the course but it was the double at fence nine that accounted for the biggest number of victims. Following the oxer at fence eight which was jumped off a corner, it came up on a bad stride for many of those who could not maintain a rhythm: "It was a long four strides to two really big verticals," Mandli said afterwards. "Quite a few horses hit it when going on four so I put five in there and it worked out well for me."

"I'm delighted with Louis, he just keeps getting better and better," Mandli said. "He was good at Munster where he was third in the Grand Prix and in Ascona where we finished ninth and in Hannover where he was sixth". Asked if he had thought he was fast enough to win in the jump-off he said "No, you can't think that when you've so many top riders coming after you but I tried to make it as difficult as possible for them."