Ben Maher won in 2013, Scott Brash in 2014 – but British fans were denied the chance to see a third home win in the Longines Global Champions Tour leg in London.
Sweden
The spoils in Saturday’s Grand Prix went instead to Swedish rider Rolf-Göran Bengtsson. Riding his stallion Casall Ask, he claimed his first GCT win of the season.
“My horse has proved that he is in good form. He jumped six times this season and every time he was in the second round, so I cannot be more than very happy with him,” said Rolf-Göran.
The 12-strong jump-off resulted in an extremely tight battle for supremacy, with Bengtsson finishing in 34.91sec, just eight hundredths of a second in front of John Whitaker andArgento. France’s Simon Delestre came third with the black stallion Qlassic Bois Margot.
Scott Brash and his Olympic partner Hello Sanctos were the last to go in the jump-off, but unfortunately for the world number one the final fence fell and he was denied the win. However, Scott has now moved to the top of the leaderboard in the series championship, going ahead of Portugal’s Luciana Diniz.
Home win
The home crowd did get to enjoy a British win on the final day (Sunday 26 July), when Laura Renwick took the CSI5* Massimo Dutti Trophy.
Laura was one of the final riders to go, and with her nine-year old Bintang II she netted a quick time of 37.32sec, half a second ahead of Emanuele Bianchi.
“We’ve had this horse since he was very young; he’s a real talent and today he showed just how much talent he has. He’s not a speed horse but he has a really big stride,” she said.
New venue
On the opening day of the competition, France’s Kevin Staut was victorious in the CSI5* Sapinda Prix, riding the grey mare Silvana HDC.
The GCT moved to a new venue for this year’s UK leg – Syon Park in West London.
Watch Longines Global Champions Tour showjumping on Horse & Country TV at thefollowing times.