Doha, Qatar—Nov. 15
World No. 1 Scott Brash has successfully defended his title and been crowned 2014 Longines Global Champions Tour Champion.
The British rider, a 2012 Olympic team gold medalist, took fourth place in the Longines Global Champions Tour Doha Grand Prix—the final of the year-long series—giving him a 1-point advantage over four-time Olympic medalist Ludger Beerbaum of Germany and finishing on the same points as rival Rolf-Göran Bengtsson of Sweden, who was the eventual class winner tonight with Casall ASK.
Due to Brash having more wins than Bengtsson this season, he takes the championship from the charismatic Swede who was in this exact same position when he was runner-up to Edwina Tops-Alexander in 2012. Brash picked up an excruciating time fault on Hello Sanctos in the first round which put him out of the final jump-off and denied him the chance to try for the class win in addition to the overall series title.
Scott Brash on Hello Sanctos. Photo by Stefano Grasso/GCT
“I nearly slapped myself today after getting a time fault in the first round,” Brash said. “Sanctos has been incredible all year. I just have to pinch myself and enjoy it while have him, those sort of horses don’t come along too often so you have to make most of it and enjoy it while I have him. He is a winner. Whenever he comes out he wins—his strike rate is phenomenal. He’s an incredible horse and I am lucky to be riding him.
“There is still a lot I want to do in my career. If I can still be top of the sport like Ludger is when I get to Ludger’s age, I’ll be thrilled with myself. I will be targeting this series next year. It’s a wonderful series. I think I speak on behalf of all the riders when I say it’s a privilege to be part of the sport at this time with what Jan and his team have done. Plus we are now getting paid sums of money that you could only dream about. For sure, I think it’s brought the sport to a whole new level and I will be aiming for it next year.”
Championship leader coming into Doha, Beerbaum did not go through to the second round of the final grand prix of the season. The star picked up 16 faults in the first round with his stallion Zinedine, his substitute ride when his top horse Chiara was not 100 percent fit to compete. Beerbaum led the series by just 12 points, but collected no more points in the Longines Global Champions Tour of Doha Grand Prix.
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“I have to be very honest, I don’t like to mess about, I am disappointed not to win,” Beerbaum said. “On the other hand, I have to say that I have to accept these two guys were world-class. To drop from first to third [in the series] because of such performances makes it a little easier to accept. Respect to them, it was fantastic to watch. I have to accept they were better.”
The day before the final class, both Beerbaum and Brash named Bengtsson’s Casall ASK as the best horse in this three-way race and their predictions rang true in the grand prix. Putting in one of only two triple-clears (the other being Luciana Diniz with Fit For Fun who took second place), the Swede always looked like the one to beat.
However, he had to concede defeat in the series race by a hair. The Longines Global Champions Tour title belongs to the incredible, unbeatable combination of Scott Brash with Lady Kirkham and Lady Harris’ Hello Sanctos.
Rolf-Goran Bengtsson on Casall ASK. Photo by Stefano Grasso/GCT
“I did everything I could—that was my only chance, to fly here and know you have to win to get 1 point ahead of Ludger,” Bengtsson said. “It’s a dream and not going to happen. It went like that today—my horse was fantastic—but Scott jumped clear again as he has many times before, so it was really close.”
Remarkably, few of the world-class field managed to jump clean around the first round built by Italy’s Uliano Vezzani—just five progressed to the second round with a 0 score such was the technicality and size of the track. It was clear the course designer was out to sort the best from the rest in this final test of the season. Riders with less experience at this, the very highest level of the sport, or with younger horses not yet seasoned at top level, struggled with the demands of the course. The time allowed was also tight and along with Brash with Hello Sanctos, Constant van Paesschen with Citizenguard Toscan Sainte Hermelle and Bassem Hassan Mohammed with Victoria also picked up a single time fault.
The first three fences on the course where relatively straightforward and on sweeping turns, though some horses looked closely at the Al Shaqab fence at Fence 2, where both Kent Farrington of the USA with Uceko and Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden with Cantinero were eliminated. But it was a meaty related distance to the Longines treble combination across the massive arena where the first big question was asked and the two combinations that followed this where most riders picked up faults.
For the five riders through to the top 18 with a clean score, Bengtsson and Casall ASK were joined by some tough competitors, including reigning European Champion Roger-Yves Bost (France) with Qoud Coeur de la Loge, in-form Luciana Diniz and Fit For Fun, Yann Candele (Canada) and Showgirl and most threateningly FEI World Cup Final winner Daniel Deusser (Germany) and Cornet D’Amour.
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Three riders were close on their heels with a single time-fault, waiting for a slip-up—Brash, Van Paesschen and Mohammed.
The second round was a twisting course with awkward lines and another tight time allowed, but it was much more friendly than the first round. The fences were more spaced out about the arena and open to an attacking pace of riding. Bassem Hassan Mohammed with Victoria was the first to jump a double clear carrying just their single time fault from the first round to eventually finish fifth.
Brash and Hello Sanctos also jumped a beautiful second clean round to stay only on 1 time fault collected in the first round, but his faster time put him just ahead of the Qatari. was the first double clear, while Bosty and Qoud de la Loge and Daniel Deusser and Cornet D’Amour both had 4 faults. Diniz was joined in the final jump-off by Canada’s Candele with Showgirl and the eventual winner Bengtsson.
The jump-off course was a mix of daring turns and brave gallops which was open to attack from a courageous rider. Diniz set the pace with her lovely little chestnut and really put the pressure on the two to follow her with a time of 43.85 seconds. Candele pushed his horse as much as he could but lowered an upright on a turn to finish third in 43.20 seconds. Bengtsson and Casall ASK set off like they meant business and the stallion looked like he would never touch a pole. There were some gasps from the spectators at some of the Swede’s bold lines and turns, but Casall rose to the occasion with great style to take the final victory of the season in a time of 40.46 seconds.
Jan Tops, organizer of the Longines GCT series, noted that Brash had planned his strategy perfectly. “He made it just by a point and all season he was very measured and had his horse in very good shape,” he said.
“I haven’t seen him jump like that the last three months. Scott knew what he had to do, he is very professional and good under pressure, and it was very close.
“Rolf couldn’t do better, he won the class and it was a great performance. For Ludger, he was consistent all year, but [Chiara] was not top fit at the last-minute, but he is a professional so he understands how it is. These three are amazing riders and have ridden fantastic all year and we couldn’t have wished for a better ending,” Tops continued.
“Also I want to thank Al Shaqab for always trying to improve this facility, it is all first class, state-of-the-art. It’s a unique place that everybody enjoys coming to. Also thank you to Longines, our title sponsor, who supports us—we need this kind of sponsor at this level and we could not do it without them, so thank you very much.”
See full results of the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Doha.
