During the LONGINES Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of London, the CSI5* 1.60m class was held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The strong field of competitors, consisting of the absolute world elite, faced a technically demanding course. Only a select number of combinations managed to qualify for the jump-off, where faultless riding and a fast time proved decisive. The result was a top-level sporting showdown with a thrilling conclusion.
Christian Kukuk stole the show with the 15-year-old stallion Checker is 47 (Comme Il Faut). He crossed the finish line without faults and produced a blistering jump-off round in 40.41 seconds. Home favourite Ben Maher followed just a fraction later, also going clear with Point Break (Action-Breaker) in 40.79 seconds, but narrowly missed out on the win.
In third place, we saw a strong Belgian performance from Niels Bruynseels with Chacco’s Lando OL (Chacco-Blue). He, too, finished faultless and claimed the bronze medal with a time of 46.49 seconds. Fellow Belgian Gregory Wathelet went for speed with Bond Jamesbond de Hay (Diamant De Semilly), but a rail down resulted in 4 penalty points. However, his 41.57 seconds showed that the pair is in top form.
The top five was completed by Maikel van der Vleuten, who, with his Olympic horse Beauville Z N.O.P. (Bustique), also incurred one fault in 42.72 seconds.
