With the 2014 Longines Global Champions Tour (GCT) drawing to a close, a new format has been announced for next year.
Club League
A Club League is to be formed, similar to football, where owners can ‘buy’ riders for their squad. They will then select their star players for the GCT Grand Prix competitions at each of the shows around the world.
Reining GCT champion Scott Brash believes the new format will be exciting for the viewers.
Exciting
“If an owner buys a club, they are obviously going to want to have the best riders and horses in their club, so it opens up the market into buying and selling riders, and I think this becomes very interesting and strategic,” he said.
“If our sport can keep evolving, it can be spoken about and viewed along with the likes of golf, tennis and football.”
The prize money has also increased, with a total of €20 million up for grabs in 2015.
Final leg
The final leg of the 2014 series at the Vienna Masters in Austria was won by Marcus Ehning (GER). Marcus produced the only treble clear onboard his 17-year-old stallion Plot Blue.
Second place went to 2014 WEG team gold medallist Simon Delestre (FRA) riding Qlassic Bois Margot and Portugal’s Luciana Diniz came third with Winningmood.
Going into the final at Al Shaqab in Doha, Qatar (13-15 November) Ludger Beerbaum is at the top of the table, with Rolf-Göran Bengtsson in second place. Scott is in third place and with 32 points between the top three, any one of them could take the title.