Under the bright lights of the stunning AL SHAQAB stadium in Doha, Patrice Delaveau of France and Carinjo HDC took home first prize in this evening’s star-packed Longines Global Champions Tour 5* 1.55m International class. With every rider in the 14-strong jump-off setting an increasingly fast time, Delaveau, who was last to jump in the second round, had to push hard and go for very tight lines in order to win. In second place, Harrie Smolders and the feisty mare Regina Z and third-placed Edwina Tops Alexander with Erenice Horta did their best, but were pipped at the post by the fast Frenchman. With a tricky and technical first round course to contend with from world-renowned course builder Uliano Vezzani, poles were lowered throughout with no ‘bogey fence’ presenting itself. The jump-off course was a mixture of long gallops and tight turns which saw 10 combinations complete a double clear. Strong combinations such as Daniel Deusser and Cornet d'Amour as well as Michael Whitaker and Amai stretched their legs, demonstrating all the skill neccesary to dominate Saturday night's Grand Prix event. In the jump-off, Luciana Diniz, who finished 5th, set the pace from second to go until Constant van Paesschen shaved a second off her time from the middle of the draw. Harrie Smolders took another second off van Paesschen’s time with his second round and looked like he would be very tough to beat. But leaving the best for last, Patrice Delaveau took 0.3 seconds off Smolder’s time. The intensity of the class grew with each new round. Ahead of the Longines Global Champions Tour Final Grand Prix on Saturday evening, the top riders were all keen to get a great result under their belt. Tonight’s second place rider, Harrie Smolders, is still in with a chance of taking the overall title should he win the Doha Grand Prix. But with higher ranked Tour riders such as Edwina Tops Alexander, Luciana Diniz, Laura Kraut and Christian Ahlmann all performing well, the Championship is still wide open. Qatar’s leading rider Sheikh Ali bin Khaled Al Thani and his the eye-catching mount Sieshof’s Abraksas picked up an unfortunate time fault in the first round of this evening’s class. But Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani tonight spoke of his pride at the Longines Global Champions Tour staging its final leg of 2013 at AL SHAQAB in his home nation. “It means a lot for Qatar because we always want to improve the sport. This is a big name to have the GCT for Qatar and it is good for the Global Tour to come here" remarked Sheikh Ali. "It is very important because the shows are unique in the world, they always do it in the best places and always the best riders come to compete. For me it the best shows and the best Tour for show jumping.” Speaking about the growth of show jumping in Qatar and the increasing numbers of young riders taking up the sport, Sheikh Ali said: “Over the last few years it is growing a lot here. There are a lot of junior riders and I think there will be much more.” Tomorrow, two more CSI5* events will offer riders the opportunity to consolidate their intentions for Saturday night. Each rider here in Doha is working towards ensuring their horses are in the best possible shape for Saturday night's big test. source: GCT
