Following the dramatic Longines Global Champions Tour of Shanghai Grand Prix, Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander has asserted her control of the LGCT 2014 Championship Ranking extending her lead to 23 points over Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum. The 2011 and 2012 LGCT Champion told reporters after Saturday’s feature class that her stallion Old Chap Tame had jumped “the best he’s ever jumped”.
Going into the fifth round of the season hosted by Cannes this weekend, there is plenty of scope for Emanuele Gaudiano (ITA), who is in third place, just 13 points behind Beerbaum, with Ben Maher (GBR), Marcus Ehing (GER), Rolf-Göran Bengtsson (SWE), Doda de Miranda (BRA), Daniel Deusser (GER), Luciana Diniz (POR) and Eric Lamaze (CAN) all hot on the tail of the top three.
The fourth stage of the Tour in Shanghai was broadcast live to millions of homes around China and the wider region. The success of the Longines Global Champions Tour debut in Shanghai has put China on the map of world-class equestrian sport. Business leaders from across China and Asia joined senior Government officials, including the Mayor of Shanghai Yang Xiong, to witness international sports horses competing for the first time in mainland China.
Chinese spectators were thrilled at seeing such top-level competition first-hand. Even at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 riders were not allowed to bring foreign horses to the mainland and had to compete in Hong Kong instead. Over 100 media outlets from around China followed the event starting with the arrival of the best show jumping horses in the world earlier in the week to the final competition prize giving ceremony.
Looking ahead to the coming weekend of action in Cannes, the star-packed rider list will undoubtedly produce more world-class sporting spectacle. Of the top 10 on the current Longines Global Champions Tour Season Rankings, Edwina Tops-Alexander will be joined by Ben Maher, Doda Miranda, Emanuele Gaudiano, Marcus Ehning, Ludger Beerbaum, Daniel Deusser and Luciana Diniz as well as Rolf-Goran Bengtsson. Nine out of the top ten riders ranked at the moment will attend the fifth leg of the 2014 series. Canada’s Eric Lamaze is the only rider in the Top 10 that will not be attending Cannes, France this week.
2014 Longines Global Champions Tour Season Rankings after Shanghai (CHN)
1. Edwina Tops-Alexander AUS
114.00
2. Ludger Beerbaum GER
91.00
3.Emanuele Gaudiano ITA
78.00
4.Ben Maher GBR
67.00
5.Marcus Ehning GER
62.00
6.Rolf-Göran Bengtsson SWE
59.00
7.Doda de Miranda BRA
59.00
8.Daniel Deusser GER
56.00
9.Luciana Diniz POR
54.00
10.Eric Lamaze CAN
54.00