Bassem Hassan
Mohammed shot to the top of the
Longines Global Champions Tour
ranking tonight after a turbo
charged Grand Prix won in
electrifying style by French speed
ace Simon Delestre.
The second leg of
the Tour in Belgium fired up the
championship race as the young
Qatari rider scored enough points to
take the lead from Scott Brash who
won in Miami Beach. With his eyes on
the overall championship Bassem
vowed: “I’m going to fight for it.”
Bassem is on 66
points and closely followed by
Hans-Dieter Dreher on 59 points
after a blistering performance in
Antwerp taking second place in the
Grand Prix. Edwina Tops-Alexander
was third on the podium on Lintea
Tequila, the bay mare she described
as one of her “best ever horses”.
It was a night of
sporting drama on the banks of the
vast River Scheldt as thousands of
fans and guests watched the world’s
best battle for a chance to put
valuable points on the ranking board
early in the championship season.
Eight out of the
world’s Top 10 riders were on the
warpath in Antwerp with a mission to
topple the seemingly invincible Brit
Scott Brash, reigning Tour champion,
off the top of the early season
ranking.
In the new venue
of Cockerill Quay along the giant
River Scheldt, with boats gliding
past the arena, spectators filled
every available space for the big
1.60m Longines Global Champions Tour
Grand Prix presented by Merit
Capital.
There was serious
horse power in the arena, not least
with the new BMW i8 super car on
display, with Ludger Beerbaum’s
Chaman, Rolf Goran Bengtsson’s
Casall and Bassem Hassan Mohammed’s
Palloubet D Halong in contention.
In the first
round Luc Musette’s course produced
a steady stream of clear rounds and
only the fastest on 4 faults would
be able to win through to the second
round. The faults were spread around
the course as riders including Steve
Guerdat, Scott Brash, Penelope
Leprevost, Eric Lamaze and Daniel
Deusser were all ejected from the
second round with Jane Richard
Phillips suffering an
uncharacteristic fall.
Doda de Miranda,
Constant Van Paesschen, Pius
Schwizer and Henrik von Eckermann
scraping into the second round with
speedy round on four faults. French
stars Simon Delestre and Kevin Staut
led the fastest clears as tension
mounted for the dramatic showdown
with eyes on the €300,000 prize.
In the second
round Sheikh Ali Al Thani of Qatar
delivered the first double clear
just inside the time allowed on
Vienna Olympic. Ben Maher of Great
Britain had an unexpected rail down
when his chestnut mare Diva got too
close to the first part of the
yellow double combination.
Christian Ahlmann
on Codex One also went double clear
setting up a jump off and was joined
by Hans Dieter Dreher who had his
work cut out holding the dark bay
stallion Embassy II in check to
produce a brilliant double clear.
Edwina Tops-Alexander added to the
heavyweight jump off line-up on the
talented Tequila. Egypt’s Karim El
Zoghby on Amelia won a place in the
jump off and the final double clear
came from Simon Delestre on Ryan Des
Hayettes.
The stakes were
high for the second Longines Global
Champions Tour Grand Prix jump off
of 2015. After two strong rounds
Sheikh Ali was not able to
capitalise and finished on 10
faults. Christian Ahlmann looked
like a winner but had a shock rail
down on Codex One and Karim El
Zoghby had four faults despite an
impressive showing in Antwerp.
Edwina
Tops-Alexander secured a powerful
performance on Tequila making the
big and daunting BMW fence look easy
and putting in a tight turn to the
Merit Capital vertical putting her
on 40.30.
Hans-Dieter
powered to second place in 38.74 on
the formidable Embassy II who is on
fire after a break of a few months
before his outing at the LGCT Miami
Beach earlier this month.
It came down to
the wire with the last rider, Simon
Delestre, living up to his
reputation for speed clinching the
winning time of 37.96 and a first
prize purse of €99,000 on his 10
year old gelding Ryan Des Hayettes.
Press
Conference:
Eric Thoulen,
President Jumping Antwerp
I am very proud of the event, the
weather was with us and there’s been
a great atmosphere for all the
riders. The move from the old
location to this one really helped
the organisation and the city helped
us really well. We have more space
and we wanted to create a feeling of
a private enclosure in the city so
the public and riders and everyone
can enjoy it.
Jan Tops,
Founder and President Longines
Global Champions Tour
The organisation have done an
amazing job, they’ve upgraded from
last year with the change in
location and the conditions for the
riders and horses were perfect. Also
the course builder did a great job,
every day building fantastic courses
producing the right amount of
clears. I would like to congratulate
him as well. Also the riders, they
gave a very great effort and you see
how everything is getting close from
the beginning. Bassem is now in the
lead after he was second in Miami.
It’s a great achievement for him,
it’s only his second year in the
Global. Of course it’s a long way
but when you have a head start it
always helps.
Bassem Hassan
Mohammed, Ranking Leader
Last year I jumped here in Antwerp,
I finished fourth, and this year I
had one down in the second round,
but I’m still happy, the horse has
jumped very good, and we have
improved and if I can say thank you
for Jan Tops and his help and thank
you for helping us to be here.
Simon Delestre,
Grand Prix Winner
The Longines Global Champions Tour
of Antwerp is a very lucky show for
me, I have won three times with
three different horses. I can’t
explain that but I’m very happy with
that. My horse Ryan des Hayettes did
a fantastic course today, he jumped
amazing and he is in a super form.
The course designer has done a very
good job every day here. The new
location also is larger than last
year and the horses enjoyed it.
Tonight I was a bit afraid of being
slower than Hans-Dieter Dreher, but
Ryan is very quick!
Hans-Dieter
Dreher, Grand Prix Runner-Up
I’m very proud of Embassy II, he
jumped amazingly well today. Before
the Longines Global Champions Tour
of Miami Beach he had a break for
three months. He was very good there
and he confirmed his great form the
week here in Antwerp.
Edwina
Tops-Alexander, Grand Prix Third
Tequila is just unbelievable, she is
definitely one of the best horses I
have ever had. This is only the
second or third outdoor show I have
done with her so far. Unfortunately
today I didn’t make that turn, I
should have pulled a bit harder and
turn a little bit more but I can’t
complain and my horse is in great
shape. I also want to thank all the
sponsors here, the course builder,
and of course the team at Stal Tops.