While Ludger Beerbaum, team manager of the Berlin Eagles, and his riders Philipp Weishaupt and Christian Kukuk were in each other's arms in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), all the employees in Riesenbeck at home were celebrating exuberantly with pizza and cold drinks and dancing joyfully in front of the screen. A perfectly thought-out strategy and the best riding led to the targeted goal at this year's conclusion of the highly endowed Global Champions League (GCL) team competition. For the first time since the competition was founded in 2016, the Berlin Eagles won the jackpot as the overall winner of the season, amounting to 1.6 million euros.
And they did so after an exciting run, as the six riders managed to win four times in 15 legs. Involved in this were the Beerbaum riders Philipp Weishaupt, Christian Kukuk, Eoin McMahon and the boss himself, as well as teammate Jane Richards and the young U-25 colleague Philipp Schulze Topphoff, who unfortunately dropped out for the season after a heavy fall.
Before the final leg, the "Eagles" were still one point behind Stockholm Hearts in second place, with a large gap ahead of third-placed Prague Lions. Everything had to fall into place:
"The GCL was our highlight in the tournament calendar from the beginning of the year. We prepared for it and focused all our attention on it," says Philipps Weishaupt. After the Stockholm Hearts had two faults in the first round, Christian Kukuk and he were able to adjust their strategy without further ado and concentrate on safe zero rounds. After this had succeeded brilliantly, before the second round it was: Advantage Berlin Eagles!
Olivier Philippaerts had a black day with his gray mare Legend of Love, because in the triple combination a pole fell twice. The clear round of Malin Baryard-Johnsson on Indiana could not do anything about that. The broken Stockholm Hearts gave way to the eagles, who extended their claws and grabbed the prey. Christian Kukuk was annoyed by two faults in the triple, but colleague Weishaupt left no doubt. He took what he had set out to do with a clear round on Coby - the overall victory!
Ludger Beerbaum's face brightened after a short period of tension to a glow: "Mission accomplished. A large lead can melt away very quickly. But we are very happy. All the work has paid off. "
Weishaupt's conclusion for the "logical place at the top": "Our goal all year was to be as good as possible. We took it seriously, we always took our best riders and the best horses in the team competitions. Now I'm tired for now, but super happy. Coby has shown again what class is in him. " Indeed, the horse/rider combinations from Riesenbeck have been the most consistent and reliable throughout the 2022 season.
Christian Kukuk relied in Riyadh on his top ten-year-old horse Mumbai, with whom he became team vice European champion in Riesenbeck 2021. Philipp Weishaupt relied on his trusty twelve-year-old gelding Coby, with whom he has delivered one clear round after another for years.
Ludger Beerbaum himself concentrated entirely on his coaching activities and decided not to compete himself with his gray mare Mila. He still has another goal in mind after this first strike: the Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix from November 17 to 20 in Prague, for which he qualified through the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix victories Mexico and Doha. Christian Kukuk is also looking forward to this. He won the Grand Prix leg in Rome and, like Beerbaum, also gets to compete in Prague for another enormous prize purse.
Because the inventor of the Global Champions Tour and Global Champions League, Jan Tops, likes to think in very big dimensions, there is also another chance for the overall winners of the Global Champions League 2022 to compete in a great tournament and earn a lot of money. The Berlin Eagles will once again compete against the best teams of the season in the GCL Super Cup. In so-called playoffs by elimination, the GCL Super Cup winner will be determined.
Next year the Riesenbeck riders want to be at the top again. Because then there is another reason to shine. From July 21 to 23, the only German leg of the Global Champions Tour will take place at Riesenbeck International's home facility. "Back to nature" will then be the motto under the oak trees and in the fresh air, with the best conditions for horses and riders. After this detour, the tour pack will then travel on to the world metropolises of Paris, New York, Mexico and Monte Carlo.
