A new multi-million pound equestrian centre in the Netherlands hosted the 12th round of the Longines Global Champions Tour.
‘New heights’
The four-day International Concours Valkenswaard is the spiritual home of the series, as both were founded by Dutch equestrian Jan Tops. He hopes the new Tops International Arena will take the competition to ‘new heights’.
Another first at this venue was a team competition, which was held as a precursor to the launch of Global Champions League in 2016. The event saw the world’s top riders paired together, named after the destinations of the 2015 championship circuit.
Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and Harrie Smolders were the winning duo riding as Team Madrid. Edwina Tops-Alexander and Henk van de Pol were second as Team Chantilly, with Daniel Deusser and Christina Liebherr taking third for Team Hamburg.
‘Very exciting’
Teams for the new League, which will offer prize money of €7.5 million, are already lined up.
“This year we already have six teams committed for next year,” said Jan. “You can mix different nations and get the best of the best together and that is what makes it different from the Nations Cup. It is going to be very exciting to see that and follow that next year.”
Germany’s Christian Ahlmann won the GCT Grand Prix riding Codex One, just ahead of Swedish rider Henrik von Eckermann (Gotha FRH). Henrik’s mentor Ludger Beerbaum was third (Chiara 222).
Scott Brash was sixth after Hello Sanctos had one fence down in the third and final round.
Big class
The final big class of the show was the VDL-Groep Prix, which saw Edwina Tops-Alexander ride to victory with her 12-year-old mare Lintea Tequila.
The Australian, who is married to Jan and based in Valkenswaard, took a stride out to the last to post the fastest clear. Canada’s Tiffany Foster (Victor) took second place, while third went to local rider Harrie Smolders (Don VHP Z).
The tour heads to Rome next month (11-13 September) and then has just one leg left at Vienna before the finals in Doha, Qatar in November.