Steve Guerdat

Steve Guerdat, the young Swiss rider (29 years old in 2011) from the canton of Jura, already has an impressive track record going for him. At the European Championships in 2003, he won both a bronze and silver medal and in 2005 he placed 6th and 7th individually. As part of the Swiss team, he was 5th at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. In Beijing he placed 4th with the Swiss team and 9th individually. Like his father, 20 years before in Los Angeles, Steve finished in 6th place at the World Cup finals in Las Vegas with Isovlas Pialotta in 2005 and just missed a podium place due to a mistake.

 

Steve Guerdat was always within the first eight in the World Cup Finals (6th in 2005, 3rd in 2007, 7th in 2008, 8th in 2009). He was therefore 6th right at the start, shortly thereafter, he won the Grand Prix in Cannes and the Prix des Nations in Rotterdam with Tijl. After a dry stretch of two years, his victories at the GP Geneva and Vigo with Jalisca Solier once again allowed him to compete in the World Cup Finals. In April 2007, he returned to Las Vegas where he placed 3rd with Trésor, his reserve horse. In the first four out of five rounds, Steve shared the lead with Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (who fell from Shutterfly) until Beat Mändli, Steve’s friend, took over the lead and won the competition.

 

As winner of many international GPs, most notably the GP HSBC at the CSI-W in Geneva in 2004, the GP Rolex World Cup CSI-W in Geneva in 2006 and the GP Vigo in 2007, Steve became the youngest rider to be in the top 20 worldwide (12th in August 2005). He entered the Top-10 in the end of 2008 and has been holding places between 6th and 8th during the autumn 2009 - the scores he is about to get judging by the excellent start in 2010 (3rd place in Basel GP on Ferrari and especially the 1st place in Zurich World Cup GP on Trésor). In winter 2009 a hernia operation took place holding the rider from competing for three months. His next primary objective is the Rolex FEI World Cup Finals 2010, taking place in Geneva from April 14 to 18.

 

Geneva and Zurich competitions were successful for Steve and made him a symbol of the country. After leaving the stables of Jan Tops in Holland, Steve returned to Switzerland and has not quit it since then. He was based in Chiètres for a year and in April 2007 he moved to the Rütihof in Herrliberg (Zurich), to the magnificent stables belonging to Mr. Urs Schwarzenbach. This was the ideal location for Steve and his ten/twelve horses. Here he had the opportunity to ride 8 horses from Mr. Yves G. Piaget, his new sponsor. Together with Rodrigo Pessoa and Malin Baryard-Johnsson, Steve is one of the three sponsors from the world of riding for the foundation “Little Dreams” that helps young talented riders to get their careers off to a good start. Steve has a good head on his shoulders, is very meticulous and a hard worker. He knows that talent alone is not enough. Riding is all about patience and hard work.