There was tension right until the final fence in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Hamburg as Harrie Smolders secured his second Hamburg title as the only rider to produce a clear round on board Une de l’Othain.
Eve Jobs made it ‘the greatest day of her career’ as she claimed second place on Venue d’Fees Des Hazalles with just one time fault. The final spot on the podium went to first out of the starting gates Michael G Duffy and the grey gelding Lapuccino 2 on just a single time fault.
A smiling Harrie Smolders said: “It feels amazing, I must say the unexpected wins are the most beautiful ones and I think that was one today. She loves this arena but today the only clear in the {LGCT} Grand Prix is outstanding. To win in Hamburg is always amazing.”
The talented young star Eve Jobs explained: “This is probably the greatest day of my career, I feel really honoured to be here at a show with such history, I really couldn’t be happier to be here. It’s just incredible. I thought it was a magnificent show and very well run. I did everything I could and was just thrilled the whole day.”
Michael G Duffy added: “Day’s like this I never believed could happen and I’m sure it wouldn’t without my team. I couldn’t be happier. The horse gave everything today and jumped brilliantly. It is just incredible. The time was really tight, as first to go I never chased the time and just rode my round and left all the jumps up which proved to be really important today.”
Passionate and knowledgeable spectators headed to the grass arena which provided the perfect backdrop for the thrilling finish to Super Saturday at LGCT Hamburg, with families and fans treated to a sensational showdown featuring the very best horses and riders in the world at this, the 11th leg of the Championship race.
Not present this weekend, Edwina Tops-Alexander kept hold of her lead in the Championship on 214 points but the flying Frenchman Olivier Robert has catapulted himself into second place with 201 points. Max Kühner also rockets up the leaderboard into third place on 194 points while Peder Fredricson and Sergio Alvez Moya sit just behind in fourth and fifth place on 189 and 188 points respectively.
It was another inspired Frank Rothenberger designed course with technical lines from start to finish. The tall double of uprights by the in gate as the last fence caught top names in the sport out, but it was the time allowed that played the biggest part with only one combination able to keep all the fences up and inside the tight time of 77 seconds.
First into the arena was Michael G Duffy and Lapuccino 2. They delivered a flawless round getting a foot perfect shot to every fence. The combination didn’t look slow but stopped the clock in 80.04 seconds to claim a single time fault in the grass arena of Hamburg.
After the first few riders all picked up time faults combinations started to open up between the fences causing poles all over the course. Denis Lynch, Ben Maher, Philipp Weishaupt and Marcus Ehning all finished inside the time allowed but knocked one single fence to keep them off the podium today.
Local fans were cheering for their home riders and Germany had a stellar line up in the LGCT Grand Prix with the likes of Christian Ahlmann, Hans-Dieter Dreher, Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann, Patrick Stühlmeyer, Maximilian Weishaupt and Laura Klaphake but it wasn’t a fairytale ending for the German squad today as they all finished with faults and kept them down the order.
Young talent Eve Jobs was the only other rider to finish with a single time fault. She kept all the fences up but after adding a stride to the last fence it was an agonising 1 fault to add to the board.
Smolders has been a regular podium placer in Hamburg and is arguably one of most consistent show jumping athletes. Today he was unbeatable once again delivering the most impressive round of the week. Riding the super Une de l’Othain with power, pace and precision the pair were the only ones to deliver a flawless clear round meaning there was no jump-off today and he won it outright.
So it would be Smolders’ day, with the flying Dutchman sealing the victory and a golden ticket to the Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix at the GC Prague Playoffs in November.
Full results here