The Longines
Global Champions Tour championship
battle intensified dramatically
setting the scene for a nail biting
event in London next week with Scott
Brash (GBR) now just three points
behind current leader Luciana Diniz
(POR).
The leadership
board was shaken up after Gregory
Wathelet (BEL) claimed a stunning
victory in Chantilly in another
incredible Grand Prix. The level of
competition in the Grand Prix was
phenomenal and only a few rider and
horse combinations were able to pull
off double clears, with just three
riders going through to an
electrifying jump off. The dancing
dynamo of Morocco's Abdelkebir
Ouaddar and his charismatic stallion
Quickly de Kreisker rode to a
popular second place, and French
favourite Pénélope Leprevost took
third place, and her second podium
of the year, with her bay stallion
Vagabond de la Pomme.
The challenging
big course set by Uliano Vezzani
produced several dramatic upsets in
the first round with John Whitaker
(GBR), Patrice Delaveau (FRA) and
last year's winner Rolf-Goran
Bengtsson (SWE) retiring and many of
the horses spooking at the long
water jump. The gappy wall caused at
least five more horses to refuse,
and the Longines triple combination
also posed many problems, even for
the most experienced of horses and
riders. The fence catching out many
of the top riders out was the big
oxer before the treble combination,
with the related distance causing
issues and leaving many horses with
the first part of the fence down.
But it was a
story of exceptionally high quality
sport with many of the world's best
combinations delivering incredible
high octane competition. And all
taking place in one of the most
enchanting locations in the world of
equestrian sport, the 'Capital of
the Horse'. With nine clears through
to round two, and nine more on one
or four faults, Jane Richard Philips
(SUI), Jessica Springsteen (USA),
Pius Schwizer (SUI), Simon Delestre
(FRA) and Carlos Lopez (COL) were
some of the high calibre 18 to go
through to the next round. With
everything to play for the
atmosphere was tense.
As the shadows
lengthened and the sun cast a golden
light across the arena, Ireland's
Bertram Allen set the pace to kick
off the second round with his
stunning grey mare Molly Malone V,
completing the course in an
impressive 60.27s. With his four
faults from the first round carried
through, he raised the bar for the
remainder of the four faulters and
finished the Grand Prix in 5th
place, earning yet more valuable
points on his ranking battle race
and continuing his form from his win
in Paris. Constant Van Paesschen
(BEL) also put in a strong second
round, riding his chestnut stallion
Citizenguard Taalex beautifully to
go clear and finish in 6th. Scott
Brash (GBR) once more showed his
class with his Grand Prix winning
mare, Hello M'Lady. Like many
others, he carried four faults
through from round one, following a
fence down at the full 1,60m planks
which was repeatedly a challenge
after the fast gallop to the water.
Gregory Wathelet
(BEL) set the scene once more, as
the first to go double clear and
laying down the gauntlet for the
remainder of the field. He was soon
followed by home favourite Pénélope
Leprevost (FRA), who rode her ten
year old bay stallion Vagabond de la
Pomme intelligently to maximise his
power and strength, jumping a
careful round to ensure her place in
the final. Last to go was another
crowd pleaser as Abdelkebir Ouaddar
(MAR) and Quickly de Kreisker looked
determined to continue their form
following their win in yesterday's
feature class, following up with a
double clear and with a
characteristic skip and a buck
thrown in by the exuberant stallion.
With just three
in the final round there was a hush
as Gregory Wathelet (BEL) entered
the ring. Being the first to go in
the jump off he was determined to
raise the bar riding a phenomenal
round on Conrad de Hus in just 36.55
seconds, lengthening the strides of
his ten year old stallion and
shaving off valuable milliseconds by
taking tighter angles to the fences.
The bay stallion did him proud,
pulling out all the stops to ride an
exceptionally careful but fast
round.
Next up was
Pénélope, who was looking to do the
double following her win at the
Cannes Grand Prix earlier this year.
However the fourth fence, a huge
double of verticals, proved to be
her downfall after Vagabond de la
Pomme clipped the second upright
element behind, finishing with four
faults in 37.31s.
Morocco's
Abdelkebir Ouaddar and Quickly de
Kreisker were last to go and aiming
for their first Grand Prix victory
of the season, and second win of the
weekend, keeping the audience on
their toes as he galloped around the
course at a sensational speed. But
they had an unlucky final fence down
to the groans of thousands of show
jumping fans in the grandstand and
the VIP hospitality lodges, leaving
them in second place.
The Chantilly
stage of the Tour was picture
perfect with the magical backdrop of
the beautiful Chateau and the Grand
Ecuries Royal Stables. Chic
hospitality lodges lined the arena
over 1,000 guests enjoyed champagne
and canapes with ringside views of
the exhilirating competition.
Hermès provided
an elegant Riders’ Lounge which
rapidly became the social hub for
the athletes and the Moët & Chandon
Salon was a lively scene through the
weekend in the “Capital of the
Horse”.
Panama hats and
fans were the order of the day as
the temperatures climbed ahead of
another sizzling Grand Prix this
season. Fans filled every space in
the big grandstand cheering on their
favourite riders and performing some
impressive Mexican Waves during the
Grand Prix lap of honour by the
winning riders. Grand Prix winner
Gregory Wathelet was surrounded by
fans eager for autographs after the
press conference.
Mayor of
Chantilly Eric Woerth described the
event as “magnificent and important”
for the city as international
business leaders and decision makers
joined guests in the VIP. Earlier in
the day the US Ambassador for France
Jane Hartley presented the trophy
for the speed class to young
American rider Jessica Springsteen.
Gérard
Manzinali, President of Longines
Global Champions Tour of Chantilly:
"When you have such important
elements all together to make great
sport, the event will always be
great. We are lucky enough to have
the city of Chantilly taking care of
the hippodrome all year long, and
the royal stables are beautiful
surroundings for the show. We have
the best riders in the world coming
here. We have a great partners in
Jan Tops, the Longines Global
Champions Tour and France Galop. My
team is fantastic, so all these
elements combined makes this show a
great success. We are confirmed to
host the Longines Global Champions
Tour for four more years and I’m
sure we have a great future ahead
together with many years of great
collaboration."
Jan Tops,
President and Founder of Longines
Global Champions Tour: "The
ranking championship battle is
getting very close now as Luciana
Diniz and Scott Brash have only
three points between them and it
will be an exciting race to the
finish. Of course we still have five
more legs to go but these two are
very strong. It will be interesting
to see other top contenders such as
Christian Alhmann, Sheikh Ali Bin
Khalid Al Thani and Rolf-Goran
Bengtsson who are not far off and
will be sure to fight for the
overall title.
"Our course
designer for Chantilly Uliano
Vezzani did a great job once more.
He does it every week, again and
again - I don’t know how he does it
but he is magic. Three in the jump
off, and with all the horses jumping
in excellent form; I want to thank
him especially because we have big
classes every week and this is not
an easy job. The conditions we have
here are optimal, the footing is
very important also. We are lucky to
have great partners here and I also
would like to congratulate Gregory
Wathelet who rode an amazing jump
off."
Gregory
Wathelet, winner: "My horse
jumped extremely well in the first
round and then just got better and
better. I'd like to thank my horse
for this wonderful victory here in
Chantilly. I can only be super happy
with my horse. I very grateful to
have such a good horse to ride and I
owe him the win today in the Grand
Prix. Being first to go in the jump
off, I knew that Penelope Leprevost
and Abdelkebir Ouaddar were able to
go very fast so I took a few risks.
Of course I could have gone even
quicker but I think still I put some
pressure on them. Also I would like
to thank the amazing public who come
here in Chantilly. The athmosphere
was absolutely fabulous and I really
enjoyed riding here. Thank you again
to everyone who came here to watch
this great sport."
Abdelkebir
Ouaddar, second place: "First, I
want to thank everybody working at
the Longines Global Champions Tour
for the beautiful shows that they
organise. Thank you to Jan Tops of
course who is at the head of all of
this. Thank you to my horse as well
because he did everything I asked of
him today; he has been fantastic.
The public here are really amazing
every year. And finally I would like
to congratulate Gregory Wathelet for
his win."
Penelope
Leprevost, third place: "The
boys have not been so courteous with
me today. I told them before the
jump off that they should let me win
because I’m a girl and it’s more
polite but they didn’t listen to me!
Haha! I’m very happy with my horse.
It was the first time in a year that
he jumped on the grass. It’s his
second show since the final worldcup
in Las Vegas. On his first round he
was feeling a bit strange and
looking at all the fences but he
became better and better. When I saw
Gregory’s round in the jump off I
thought “Wouahou! How can I beat
him?” so I did my best but it was
not enough to win!"
