laurarenwick_38q8979With the first points of the championship series on the ranking board, the world’s best riders will be sharpening up their tactics for the second leg in Hamburg. Michael Whitaker, current ranking leader, will be in Hamburg with his horse GIG Amai in a bid to consolidate his position after jumping the only triple clear in Madrid at the opening Longines Global Champions Tour season. Laura Kraut and Alvaro de Miranda, second and third respectively in this weekend’s Grand Prix, will next compete in Wiesbaden giving Whitaker a big opportunity to stretch his lead as the series hots up. Hamburg will see a strong turnout of riders from Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, Qatar and France. Today, the Trofeo King's Cup proved to be a challenging feat for both horses and riders. The two round competition, designed by the Netherland's Louis Konings, only saw two double clear rounds and both were delivered by Great Britain. This afternoon's King's Cup competition saw forty-six combinations in the first round but only thirteen riders in the second round. Athina Onassis de Miranda, Sergio Alvarez Moya, Scott Brash and Laura Renwick were the only four riders to deliver a clear score in the first round. We also saw Brazil's Alvaro de Miranda, Ireland's Mark McAuley, Canada's Tiffany Foster, France's Penelope Leprevost and the Netherland's Harrie Smolders in the second round despite faults in the first. Alvaro de Miranda was first to take the lead in the second round, jumping a clear round with Show Show. France's Penelope Leprevost took over the lead but as she crossed the finish line, the leading lady rider for France looked very disappointed for she had acquired a time fault in the first round and two time faults in the second round riding her 9 year old gelding Quelmec du Gery. Britain's Olympic Gold medal combination, Scott Brash and Hello Sanctos, stole the lead from Penelope Leprevost after a very well executed round with a time of 55.57 seconds. Greek rider Athina Onassis de Miranda delivered a sensational second round aboard AD Babouche. Up against some serious competition, Athina kept her composure and rode very well, making the first Longines Global Champions Tour of Madrid a very good start to the season. Her round was not good enough to take the lead but she landed the second place position. Last to go was Britain's Laura Renwick, known for her speed, riding the adorable Oz de Breve. This combination is always sure to be fast if they manage to keep the fences up and sure enough they did. Keeping all the poles safely in their cups, Laura and Oz de Breve took over the lead with an incredibly fast time of 51.49 seconds; over 5 seconds faster then Scott's time. A wonderful end to the first leg of the 2013 Longines Global Champions Tour season here in Madrid as we look to the second leg in Hamburg, Germany next week. © equnews.com/GCT - photo: Sportfot